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Hospitals, other providers question State of Nebraska’s failure to pay health data provider | Nebraska Examiner

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Hospitals, other providers question State of Nebraska’s failure to pay health data provider | Nebraska Examiner


LINCOLN — The state’s supplier of well being care knowledge and prescription drug purchases says its providers to docs and hospitals are being threatened as a result of the state is failing to completely pay up on a $15 million-a-year contract.

The dearth of funds to CyncHealth prompted that group’s board of administrators — a gaggle of hospital and well being care directors — to “implore” the Nebraska Division of Well being and Human Providers to meet its obligations and preserve the information sharing community working.

DHHS signed a contract with La Vista-based CyncHealth to supply a statewide Heath Info Trade (HIE), documenting a affected person’s previous remedies and well being information, with a objective of bettering well being outcomes. CyncHealth additionally operates a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), which tracks purchases of medicines to forestall “physician procuring” for duplicate prescriptions of harmful opioids, like oxycontin.

The dearth of funds, the Sept. 16 letter acknowledged, is an instance of poor planning by the state and “pointless forms that’s avoidable.”

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“Suppliers will likely be hampered in offering optimum care to their sufferers if they don’t seem to be capable of entry the HIE or PDMP, placing the well being of Nebraskans in danger,” the letter added. “We implore you to meet your funding obligations….”

Letter signed by hospital officers

The letter was signed by 17 board members of CyncHealth, which incorporates representatives of the state’s main well being suppliers, together with Nebraska Methodist, CHI Well being, Nebraska Drugs and Youngsters’s Hospital, that each one use the well being knowledge.

Jeff Powell, a spokesman for the Nebraska DHHS, stated in an e mail Thursday that the federal Medicaid applications that had funded 90% to 100% of the prices of the HIE and prescription drug program have “considerably modified” prior to now 12 months, and in some circumstances, have ended.

That, Powell stated, has left DHHS with out cash to completely pay CyncHealth — it’s as much as an estimated $11 million brief — on the $14.6 million contract that runs by way of the tip of September. The contract features a one-year extension by way of September 2023 for $18.9 million.

The company, he stated, has paid CyncHealth for the prices of the prescription drug monitoring program by way of July, however he stated the $1 million allotted by the state for the HIE has been exceeded. Jaime Bland, CyncHealth’s president and CEO, estimated the state will owe CyncHealth practically $11 million by the tip of September.

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Powell added that DHHS has pledged to hunt a deficit appropriation from the State Legislature to meet the remainder of the contract obligation.

The responses have left CyncHealth officers scratching their heads about why they aren’t being paid and scrambling to make ends meet.

Pressured to borrow cash

Bland stated her firm has been pressured to borrow cash to maintain paying its 75 employees and has been unable to pay a few of its know-how suppliers.

The dearth of funds has harmed its credit standing, Bland added, and threatens whether or not CyncHealth can proceed to supply knowledge to well being suppliers — suppliers who she stated have paid their charges early to assist maintain the operation.

In August, CyncHealth stated well being care suppliers seemed up 637,463 information stored on the HIE. Over the previous 12 months, Veterans Administration and Division of Protection services nationwide have reviewed 5 million information supplied by the Nebraska HIE.

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Bland stated DHHS was conscious that federal program modifications had been coming and that the company might have used its state allocation to acquire matching federal funds by way of new applications. Because it stands, she stated, the Legislature received’t get to think about the deficit appropriations till January, placing CyncHealth additional within the gap.

“It doesn’t make sense what they’re doing,” Bland stated.

New federal funds

Powell acknowledged that new federal funding choices can be found to DHHS to pay for the digital well being info, however he stated they don’t supply as a lot in matching funds. He added that the company was unable, in time to be included within the present finances, to calculate how way more state funds is likely to be wanted to make up the distinction.

Docs and hospitals throughout the state and the nation use the Well being Info Trade to trace a affected person’s previous well being information and what remedies they’ve acquired at different services.

The prescription drug monitoring program was a precedence of former State Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, whose sister died of an overdose of prescribed drugs. The concept is to trace how usually opioids are prescribed to and bought by sufferers, to cease “physician procuring” and the power to acquire a harmful quantity of the medicine.

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The 2 applications are funded through a mixture of state and federal funds, with some charges paid by well being care suppliers.

State Sen. John Arch of La Vista (Courtesy of Unicameral Info Workplace)

State Sen. John Arch of La Vista, who chairs the Legislature’s Well being and Human Providers Committee, which screens DHHS, stated the company remains to be making an attempt to type by way of the federal funding modifications which have prompted the cost challenge.

‘Nothing easy’

“There’s nothing easy about federal funds,” stated Arch, whose district consists of the CyncHealth workplace.

The problems have to get resolved so there’s a gentle supply of funding for CyncHealth and that funding is predictable,” he added.

Arch, a former well being care administrator, known as the HIE a “large useful resource” for each remedy and analysis that carries the potential for “shifting the needle” on remedies of illnesses, in addition to decreasing health-care prices.

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Arch added that he believes that the funding points will likely be labored out.



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Nebraska

Who is Steve Halloran? Nebraska Senator faces ire for dragging colleague’s name into rape scene

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Who is Steve Halloran? Nebraska Senator faces ire for dragging colleague’s name into rape scene


Senator Steve Halloran stirred a storm on Monday after he invoked a colleague’s name while reading a book passage about an explicit rape scene.

During the 83-second reading, Senator Steve Halloran repeatedly inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh’s name into the text as the victim.(X@NebraskaMegan)

The incident occurred during a Nebraska legislative debate over keeping profanity and pornography out of K-12 classrooms. However, the session ended abruptly after Halloran’s statement sparked outrage.

Hindustan Times – your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

When lawmakers were debating on Legislative Bill 441, Halloran warned his colleagues that he would be quoting the bill’s hearing testimony, according to Nebraska Examiner.

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The bill introduced by Sen. Joni Albrecht aims to eliminate a prosecution exemption for schools that give pornographic materials to students in K-12 schools.

Before concluding his arguments during the debate, Halloran read an excerpt from Alice Seabold’s “Lucky,” which he claimed was available in at least 16 Nebraska school libraries. The book recounts Sebold’s pain of being raped in college and highlights the importance of discussion on trauma and victimisation.

During the 83-second reading, Halloran repeatedly invoked female Senator Machaela Cavanaugh’s name into the text as the victim.

At least two of Halloran’s colleagues — Sens. Julie Slama and Megan Hunt — have called for his resignation.

Also Read: Utah parents allegedly admit to sexually abusing teen daughter in a bid to teach her about…

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Machaela Cavanaugh reacts: ‘It was harassing’

Calling out Halloran, Cavanaugh termed the “incident out of line, harassing and disgusting” as she was left tearful on the floor.

“That was about a book about sexual violence. I have done nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children,” she stated, hoping that other coworkers and Republicans will defend her.

Albrecht, who left the floor immediately, said she was “mortified” after Cavanaugh’s name was mentioned.

Meanwhile, Julie Slama of Dunbar, a conservative, responded to Cavanaugh’s tweet and slammed Halloran, stating that “no context makes this appropriate.”

Also Read: A mower sparked a Nebraska wildfire that has burned an area roughly the size of Omaha, officials say

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Halloran defends self, says ‘I was addressing her lawyer brother’

In an email to a Nebraska teacher on Monday evening, Halloran claimed that he was referring to Cavanaugh’s lawyer brother, John, reported Nebraska Examiner.

“If you would have listened closely, I was addressing her lawyer brother … John!”

Meanwhile, Cavanaugh rejected Halloran’s claims that he was talking about her brother rather than her as “dismissive”.

“Context matters — which was the crux of the bill being debated. Inserting my or my brother or both of our names into the reading of an explicit excerpt from a story about rape is the context of this video,” she wrote.

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Nebraska senator invokes colleague's name while reading rape scene during debate

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Nebraska senator invokes colleague's name while reading rape scene during debate


State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings opens an Agriculture Committee hearing in February 2023.
Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — A Nebraska legislative debate about keeping obscenity out of K-12 schools ended abruptly Monday night after a lawmaker, while reading a book passage about an explicit rape scene, invoked a colleague’s name.

State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings, during debate on Legislative Bill 441, warned state senators and those watching the livestream of legislative proceedings that he would be quoting from the hearing testimony on the bill.

LB 441, the priority bill of State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, seeks to crack down on obscenity and pornography in K-12 schools.

One person testifying at the March 24, 2023, hearing on LB 441 read passages from a book titled “Lucky,” by Alice Sebold, which includes a graphic description of a rape Sebold survived in college.

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While reading the testimony, Halloran inserted the name “Senator Cavanaugh” at the end of some sentences about the sexual assault.

He didn’t specify which Cavanaugh. (Both Machaela Cavanaugh and her brother John serve in the Legislature.)

At least two of Halloran’s colleagues publicly called for him to resign.

During about four hours of debate, Halloran and others alluded repeatedly to the hearing transcript. Halloran was the first to read directly from it.

“We talked about, ‘My kids haven’t experienced this in my school,’” Halloran said. “Doesn’t matter. If it’s just one school that experiences this, (it’s) one too many.”

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The lawmaker also invoked State Sen. George Dungan’s name after reading the passage.

He called out Dungan, of Lincoln, and Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, both attorneys, for questioning the legality of LB 441 but not proposing solutions.

“Don’t throw it away — fix it,” Halloran said. “It’s a problem.”

Much of Monday’s debate featured supporters saying that LB 441 would fix a loophole that they say prevents prosecution if a school official provides obscenity to minors.

Opponents said that is already illegal under state law, and school officials do not have immunity from prosecution.

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After Halloran read from “Lucky,” Sen. John Cavanaugh said the Hastings senator “missed the point.”

“Yes, life is gross and very unpleasant,” he said. “But that is what life is, and people who experience that want to know they’re not alone.”

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh told Halloran that his speech was harassment.

She said that while she and Albrecht disagreed about the bill, Albrecht remained professional during debate. Halloran did not, she said.

“That was so out of line and unnecessary and disgusting to say my name over and over again like that,” Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said.

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“You don’t know anything about anyone else’s life, and I can tell you that women in this body have been subjected to sexual violence,” she continued. “I didn’t know you were capable of such cruelty. That was so unbecoming of you and unbecoming of this body, and I hope that some other people who are Republicans will stand up and defend me.”

Albrecht and a handful of other lawmakers had left the floor when Halloran was reading the passage.

Albrecht said afterward she was “mortified” if Cavanaugh’s name was invoked.

“I don’t want to listen to this, but deep down inside, this is what’s happening,” Albrecht said. “… I will be the first to stand up and say I’m sorry — I’m sorry that we even have to read anything like this.”

Halloran, in an email to a Nebraska teacher Monday evening, wrote, “If you would have listened closely, I was addressing her lawyer brother … John!”

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In another email shared online and with the Examiner, Halloran described the passage as a “‘how to rape’ lesson given to young people” and said his only regret is that liberals are not upset that “Lucky” is in school libraries.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said on social media that Halloran’s explanation that he was referring to her brother was “dismissive” and ignores that men can also be sexually assaulted.

Colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the officially nonpartisan Legislature condemned Halloran.

State Sens. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a progressive, and Julie Slama of Dunbar, a conservative, both called for him to resign.

“Disgusting,” Slama wrote on X. “No context makes this appropriate.”

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Speaker John Arch of La Vista, on a motion from Hunt, agreed to adjourn one hour early Monday evening.

The debate is scheduled to pick up Tuesday afternoon after lawmakers finish second-round debate on the state budget.

“There’s times when we just have to step back from the debate, and I think this is one of those times,” Arch said.





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Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts: ‘I wasn’t looking to leave’ Nebraska

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Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts: ‘I wasn’t looking to leave’ Nebraska


COLLEGE STATION, Texas (WOWT) – Trev Alberts was introduced as the new athletic director at Texas A&M University on Monday.

Alberts announced his departure from Nebraska last week in an unexpected move that left Husker faithful shocked and frustrated.

During his first press conference at Texas A&M on Monday, Alberts was asked to provide some clarity. Why did he leave his alma matter, a place that seemed like his dream job?

“The difficult part of this whole transition is that I wasn’t looking to leave,” Alberts said. “I’ve been associated with [Nebraska] for a long time. That’s one place that changed my life. Other than my family and faith, everything else I owe to the University of Nebraska.”

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Alberts also shared a philosophy on college athletics as a whole — he’s determined to create a culture where the school does not focus solely on winning and losing, but on the process it takes to win.

On Sunday, another curveball was thrown when the NCAA selection committees decided to pit both Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball teams against the same opponent — Texas A&M.

In his spring press conference Monday, Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule said he didn’t appreciate that decision made by the committees because it takes away from the players on the court, and instead the masses will focus on the athletic director leaving one school to join the other.

Alberts smirked as he said the decision to put the Huskers and Aggies together in both tournaments “appears a little too coincidental.”

He complimented all the coaches, saying they’re all outstanding human beings and adding that the beauty of it is that he “can’t lose” in this scenario.

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