NEHI is an independent, nonprofit national network and research organization focused on enabling innovation to improve health care quality and lower health care costs. In partnership with members from all across the health care system, NEHI conducts evidence-based research and stimulates policy change to improve the quality and the value of health care. Together with this unparalleled network of committed health care leaders, NEHI brings an objective, collaborative and fresh voice to health policy. In January 2011, the organization officially changes its name to NEHI, and no longer calls itself the New England Healthcare Institute.

Mission

NEHI's mission statement is “to transform health care for the benefit of patients and their families.”

Promote Medical Innovation

Patient Safety: NEHI’s 2008 research on how a technology known as computerized physician order entry (CPOE) can improve patient safety by reducing medication errors prompted the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to enact legislation requiring all hospitals to implement CPOE by 2012 as a condition of licensure. NEHI also informed federal policymakers of the enormous lifesaving potential of CPOE through a national campaign that was boosted by the inclusion of incentives for hospital adoption of CPOE in the 2009 economic stimulus bill

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...

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Comparative Effectiveness Research

Comparative Effectiveness

Comparative effectiveness research is the direct comparison of existing health care interventions to determine which work best for which patients and which pose the greatest benefits and harms...

: In April 2009, NEHI released a white paper identifying ways to design and implement the new federal comparative effectiveness research program – a program to compare medical interventions to determine what works best – without stifling valuable innovation in health care.

Fast Adoption of Significant Technologies (FAST): Each year NEHI researchers identify and evaluate promising, but underused, technologies that have significant potential for cost savings. In 2009, they focused the search on telehealth technologies for chronic disease management.
NEHI is also working with the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center to study the potential of Tele-ICU technology, which enables specialists to remotely monitor intensive care unit (ICU) patients to improve quality and lower costs in hospital ICUs.

Improve Quality and Efficiency

Wasteful Spending: NEHI research found that a full third of health care spending, or $800 billion, could be cut without adversely impacting quality. A 2008 series of reports identified the key sources of wasteful spending, including physician practice variation, overuse, underuse and misuse of prescription drugs, and use of emergency departments for non-urgent care.

Primary Care

Primary health care

Primary health care, often abbreviated as “PHC”, has been defined as "essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost...

: In 2009, NEHI developed research highlighting the root causes of the crisis in primary care delivery due to increased demand by older, sicker patients and decreased supply of primary care practitioners. The research identified a set of innovations that could enhance the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of primary care in the United States.

Foster Wellness and Chronic Disease Prevention

Healthy People, Healthy Economy: NEHI’s 2007 report, “The Boston Paradox: Lots of Healthcare, Not Enough Health,” raised awareness about the link between health, healthy behaviors and a healthy economy in a region with a strong economic foundation in life sciences

Life sciences

The life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...

. In 2009, NEHI published a "Blueprint for Action" calling for a coordinated wellness campaign to combat the rising tide of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses in order to keep Massachusetts both healthy and competitive.

Founders

NEHI is led by President Wendy Everett, ScD, and Executive Director, Valerie Fleishman. It was founded by a group of high-profile health care leaders:

• Henri Termeer, CEO, Genzyme
  Genzyme
  Genzyme Corporation is a fully owned subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis. Before its acquisition, Genzyme was an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2010, Genzyme was the world’s third-largest biotechnology company, employing more than 11,000 people around the world...
  
  
• Joseph B. Martin, MD, PhD, then Dean
  Dean (education)
  In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
  
   of Harvard Medical School
  Harvard Medical School
  Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
  
  
• Sam Thier, MD, then CEO, Partners HealthCare
  Partners HealthCare
  Partners HealthCare is a non-profit organization that owns several hospitals in Massachusetts, primarily in the Boston area. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital founded the organization in 1994...
  
  
• Fred Telling, PhD, then VP of Corporate Policy and Strategic Management, Pfizer
  Pfizer
  Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
  
  
• Charlie Baker
  Charles D. Baker, Jr.
  Charles Duane "Charlie" Baker, Jr. , is an American businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He was a cabinet official under two Massachusetts governors, spent ten years as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and was the Republican candidate in the 2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial...
  
  , CEO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
  Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc.
  Harvard Pilgrim is a not-for-profit health plan that provides a variety of insurance plan options and self-funding arrangements to more than one million members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Harvard Pilgrim was founded in 1969 out of the merger of the Harvard Community Health Plan and...
  
  

The goal of the founders was to bring individual, competing health care sectors around one table to collaborate on behalf of improving health care. NEHI would use the unparalleled resources and spirit of New England’s health care industry as a test bed for innovation in health care. Reach could then be extended nationally.

Members

As of January 2011, NEHI’s members include :

AARP, Inc.

ABIOMED, Inc.

Advanced Medical Technology Association

Alkermes, Inc.

American Cancer Society - New England

American College of Cardiology

Amgen, Inc.

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP

Atrius Health

Baxter Healthcare Corporation

Bayer HealthCare, LLC

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)

Biotechnology Industry Organization

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee

California Healthcare Institute

Caritas Christi Health Care

Cubist Pharmaceuticals

Deloitte LLP

DePuy Mitek, Inc.

Eliza Corporation

EMC Corporation

EMD Serono, Inc.

Ernst & Young, LLP

Foley Hoag, LLP

Genzyme Corporation

GlaxoSmithKline

Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

IMS Health

Joslin Diabetes Center

King & Spalding, LLP

Malley & Franey Financial Group, Inc.

Massachusetts Biotechnology Council

Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals

Massachusetts Hospital Association

Massachusetts Medical Society

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative

Masspro

McKinsey & Company

Merck & Co., Inc.

National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation

National Community Pharmacists Association

National Consumers League

National Family Caregivers Association

National Organization for Rare Disorders

National Pharmaceutical Council

Network Health

New England Council

Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics

Novo Nordisk, Inc.

Organogenesis Inc.

Oxford Bioscience Partners

PAREXEL International, Inc.

Partners HealthCare System

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

Philips HealthCare

Pitney Bowes, Inc.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Randstad USA

Raytheon Company

Sanofi-Aventis

SironaHealth

Take Care Health Systems

Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development

Tufts Health Plan

Tufts University School of Medicine

UCLA Health System

University of Connecticut Health Center

University of Massachusetts Medical School

Verisk Health

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

WellPoint, Inc.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute