Nebraska lawmakers created a state Health Information Technology Board to oversee collection of patient health records and histories, physicals, discharge summaries, immunization records, radiology, lab and pathology results and ordering, medication history, allergies, family history, and advance directives. Critics urged Nebraskans to reject the move.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
By\u00a0Mike Capuzzo<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nebraska lawmakers have created a state Health Information Technology<\/a> (HIT) Board to collect health information on all Nebraskans in a centralized data and surveillance system that, according to lawmakers, will be used by doctors to improve patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But critics warn the system marks a step toward the oppressive control of digital ID and digital currency that could sweep the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nebraska Legislature<\/a> in 2020 voted unanimously to create the Nebraska HIT Board, composed of 17 members appointed by the governor and confirmed by a majority vote of the legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Members include doctors, a nurse practitioner, hospital administrators and other healthcare stakeholders with \u201cclinical experience and expertise to make the most informed decisions about the health data that they help govern,\u201d according to the HIT Board website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The state law that created the HIT Board designates CyncHealth<\/a>, a regional health data utility (HDU) that manages the data of more than 5 million patients in more than 1,100 healthcare facilities across the Midwest, to centralize and administer the information on Nebraska\u2019s health exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CyncHealth says its mission<\/a> is to create a comprehensive health record for every patient that is instantly accessible to patients, their doctors, nurse practitioners, radiologists and other health professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The patient health records include patient histories, physicals, discharge summaries, immunization records, radiology, lab and pathology results and ordering, medication history, allergies and advance directives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the patient level, \u201cWhen providers aren\u2019t able to communicate, mistakes happen, costs rise, and patients suffer,\u201d CyncHealth said<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re breaking down barriers to deliver the right information at the point of care \u2014 every time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the hospital and state healthcare policy level, the centralized data collection will enable public health and hospital administrators \u201cto analyze trends in utilization, determine appropriate care management strategies, enable effective review to detect and mitigate fraud, waste and abuse, and more effectively direct funding to high-value care initiatives,\u201d CyncHealth said about its team of advisers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Stacey Skold, Ph.D., a board member of the Children\u2019s Health Defense (CHD) Nebraska Chapter<\/a>, said she and other chapter members are troubled by the sudden centralization of Nebraska\u2019s health data that has occurred since the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They fear it opens the door to digital ID<\/a> and central bank digital currency<\/a> (CBDC), she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Nebraska, social credit system \u2018seems very near here\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy biggest concern is what\u2019s happening in Nebraska. If you connect the dots, we\u2019ve laid the groundwork for digital IDs and CBDC and that\u2019s alarming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you talk about CBDC and a social credit system, it seems far off. But it seems very near here and starting in a very specific way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Skold, an artist with a master\u2019s degree in art history from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in human sciences from the University of Nebraska, found herself on a \u201ctransformative journey, like everyone in our chapter, when you find yourself in a different world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She became a dogged healthcare researcher and activist after her oldest daughter suffered hearing loss and balance issues from toxic drugs she received in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n At one of the regular CHD Nebraska meetings last year, a member\u2019s daughter told the group she had discovered the HIT Board on the internet and its control of nearly all health data in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alarmed by the implications for privacy, Skold thought, \u201cGosh, we\u2019ve gotta get a better handle on this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, the Nebraska legislature passed Legislative Bill 1183<\/a>, the \u201cPopulation Health Information Act,\u201d which paved the way for the creation of the HIT Board and designated the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (which changed its name to CyncHealth<\/a>) as the state\u2019s health exchange<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2021, Nebraska passed Legislative Bill 411<\/a>, requiring universal participation in the CyncHealth statewide information exchange. Nearly every health facility in the state has complied, except in cases where a facility lacked the digital or financial resources to hook into the statewide system and received a waiver for a \u201ctechnological burden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CyncHealth site also offers an individual form to opt out<\/a> of the state health data exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nebraska: testing ground for statewide health data harvesting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Skold and other chapter members began monitoring the HIT Board meetings on Zoom under the Nebraska Open Meetings Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were \u201chorrified\u201d to learn that while CyncHealth is based in Omaha it is a member<\/a>, under its old name of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative, of the CARIN Alliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CARIN is a global multi-sector nonprofit with giant healthcare and digital organization members like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cigna, CVS Health and AARP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organization is devoted to developing global digital ID credentials in coordination with the Vaccine Credentials Initiative<\/a>, the World Health Organization<\/a>, the World Economic Forum<\/a> and other global stakeholders, Skold said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greg Glaser<\/a>, a California vaccine rights attorney and digital privacy expert, said Skold and other Nebraskans are \u201cright to be concerned\u201d with the rapid centralization and control of the state\u2019s health data by the state and federal government, giant corporations and nongovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJust as logging companies first build logging roads before they start logging, so too tech companies<\/a> first build inroads to your accounts before they harvest your data,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNebraska was selected as the testing ground for this new clear cut of medical data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Glaser said the Vaccine Credentials Initiative, which describes itself as \u201ca voluntary coalition of public and private organizations committed to empowering individuals\u2019 access to a trustworthy and verifiable copy of their vaccination records in digital or paper form using open, interoperable standards,\u201d is pushing SMART Health Cards<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SMART Health Cards are \u201cvaccine passports designed to integrate seamlessly with a future global digital ID,\u201d Glaser said. \u201cEventually you\u2019ll see these two logging roads connect. Vaccine passports<\/a> are the smaller road that connects to the larger highway of digital ID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Digital IDs are being marketed as a useful tool of consumer convenience, not the unprecedented control they would usher in, Glaser said, and are also falsely presented as government issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs I researched biometric ID, I learned that governments are not at the top of the food chain,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually private companies at the top, such as Microsoft, Oracle, Accenture, because those companies create and own the technology, and they manage the data off-site.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe job of governments is merely mid-level operations, just to issue the IDs that comply with basic guidelines provided by industry-captured government entities like National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST<\/a>).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Glaser said he was \u201cshocked\u201d that the European Union last week and European Parliament representatives tentatively agreed on a new framework for a European digital ID wallet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Tell others that digital ID is coming and it\u2019s not cool to get the digital ID\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe shocking thing is that Europeans are not shocked by the announcement, even though logically this technology will irreversibly change Europe forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf approved, it ushers in Central Bank Digital Currencies in the form of a digital wallet. This has long been the communist dream to achieve such centralized control over capital. The same plan and same language is in motion in the United States<\/a> as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physicians are especially concerned that centralized control of medical records will have \u201ca chilling effect on the independence of medical care\u201d and further damage the doctor-patient relationship<\/a>, Glaser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many patients have begun switching to direct pay instead of insurance pay medical care to escape top-down control of the doctor-patient bond and ensure their access to drugs like ivermectin<\/a>, Glaser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBig Pharma<\/a> knows this and doesn\u2019t like it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t like natural healing. They like drugs, surgery and centralization. And medical records are a big part of maintaining Big Pharma\u2019s system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrankly, we need to reform Pharma<\/a>,\u201d he said, citing CHD\u2019s new initiative. \u201cAnd that includes new safeguards in the privacy of medical records.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Glaser urged Nebraskans and all Americans to take to social media to stop digital ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, your voice is that powerful,\u201d he said. \u201cTell others that digital ID is coming and it\u2019s not cool to get the digital ID. It\u2019s cool to be traditional. If enough people can be motivated to opt out, then we can safeguard our traditional freedoms for ourselves and posterity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Skold said she and other CHD Nebraska members sometimes feel overwhelmed by the vast powers arraigned against medical freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CyncHealth\u2019s partners in the CARIN Alliance consult with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the National Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Veterans Health Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Office of Civil Rights to accomplish CARIN\u2019s goal of \u201cenabling consumers and their authorized caregivers to access more of their digital health information with less friction,\u201d according to the CARIN website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the June 15 online meeting of the HIT Board that CHD Nebraska members monitored, CyncHealth representatives told the board that Nebraska was the only state so far reporting all pharmacy prescriptions to the federal Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Training and Technical Assistance Center<\/a>, sponsored by the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, a national organization funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The center facilitates coordination \u201cbetween the states, academia, the federal government, and other non-governmental organizations\u201d to monitor all prescriptions in the U.S. (including patient name, address, and date of birth, and patient prescription history) to further combat \u201cthe misuse and diversion of prescription drugs<\/a>,\u201d its website says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A member of CHD Nebraska who monitored the HIT Board meeting reported on her health news website, Lincoln\u2019s Open Source<\/a>, that \u201cNebraska\u2019s surveillance program\u201d was \u201cdoing the \u2018heavy lift\u2019\u201d as a pilot program that could sweep the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She noted that the CyncHeath spokesperson said more than 100 new fields had been added to the data collection to benefit public health and epidemiology and \u201cthat 10-12 other states are watching Nebraska\u2019s implementation. He notes that other states will benefit from Nebraska\u2019s \u2018heavy lift.\u2019\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHD Nebraska members say they are not reassured that CyncHealth seeks \u201cto empower healthier communities<\/a> through steadfast pursuit of advancing interoperability, bringing data democratization, cultivating economic value, and delivering a health data utility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interoperability is a new buzzword in health data management. The word did not exist in the English language from 1800 forward until it was coined in 1969<\/a>, then scarcely used until usage soared in 2000 during the pandemic and the advent of digital \u201cinteroperability,\u201d etymology records show<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interoperability is \u201cthe ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of information,\u201d according to Oxford Languages<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in healthcare, interoperability<\/a> is \u201cthe ability of different information systems\u201d to \u201caccess, exchange, integrate and cooperatively use data \u2026 to optimize the health of individuals and populations globally,\u201d according to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society<\/a>, a nonprofit \u201ccommitted to reforming the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Journalist: Nebraskans should reject HIT Board by referendum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n James Roguski<\/a>, an independent journalist, said he could not find mention of \u201cany authority granted to the state government to control health, healthcare or health-related data\u201d in the Nebraska Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt seems that they are acting outside their constitutional authority when they enacted LB 1183 (Population Health Information Act),\u201d he said in a statement to The Defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roguski also urged the people of Nebraska to \u201cconsider exercising their right to reject any act passed by the Nebraska Legislature via the power of referendum<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He cited the Nebraska State Constitution<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people reserve for themselves the power to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and to enact or reject the same at the polls, independent of the Legislature, which power shall be called the power of initiative. The people also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section, or part of any act passed by the Legislature, which power shall be called the power of referendum<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Skold said she hopes lawyers will take up the cause in Nebraska to turn back the digital centralization of healthcare records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said she worries about the damage to her relationship to providers and about a loss of informed consent and privacy. (CyncHealth says<\/a> it follows HIPAA<\/a> privacy law.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n She worries that she won\u2019t be able to find a doctor who operates outside the system, and ultimately fears total loss of freedom from digital ID and digital currency for herself and her children and the future of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re the test state,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we can do something to stop it here, then we can potentially stop it everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They’re not even veiling their intention of digital ID, vaccine passport and health data, CBDC wallet, carbon tracking and social credit system. And they’re really applying pressure to their government assets to institute this centralized health care record database and sending data on prescriptions to the federal government. You’d have to speculate they’re testing how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5810,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5809\/revisions\/5810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"nebraska](\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/nebraska-health-data-digital-id-feature-800x417.jpg\")
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