As we end operations, a short retrospective seems in order. We hope it enables all those involved with us to reminisce and feel pride in the organization’s accomplishments and provides inspiration to collaborate in the pursuit of innovations that improve health care for all.

 Founding and Early Work: 2002 - 2009  

• NEHI is founded as the New England Healthcare Institute in 2002 to bring together leaders from across the entire spectrum of health care and the life sciences.
• In one of its first projects, NEHI and the Milken Institute present data on the growing role of New England’s health care and life science industry clusters in powering the region’s economic growth, bolstering the case for Governor Deval Patrick’s $1 billion biotech initiative.
• NEHI enters a long-term partnership with the Massachusetts Technology (MIT) Collaborative to accelerate adoption of health care IT applications that enhance patient safety, improve health outcomes and promote efficient health care delivery in Massachusetts.
• NEHI’s research and advocacy leads Massachusetts insurers to promote adoption of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems in Massachusetts hospitals. In following years, NEHI demonstrates the viability of tele-ICU management through partnership with the UMass Memorial Health.
• NEHI evaluates evidence on the effectiveness of kinase inhibitor therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and insulin analogs, and outlines recommendations for adoption.
• NEHI’s focus on bringing payers and biopharmaceutical companies together around comparative effectiveness research led to the development of organizations like ICER, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.
• NEHI conducts an exhaustive review of literature on avoidable waste in health care and publishes “How Many Studies Will It Take?”, making the case for systematic investment in health care delivery efficiency.
• NEHI forms a multi-year collaboration with The Boston Foundation. In a series of “report cards” on public health in Massachusetts, NEHI and the Foundation advocate for stronger investment in public health, wellness and prevention in the state’s health care system. The collaboration boosts the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s statewide wellness campaign (Mass in Motion).

Advancing Major Health Policies: 2009 - 2015

• As Medicare rolls out the Part D prescription drug benefit, NEHI members turn their attention to traditionally poor levels of patient medication adherence. NEHI’s updated estimate on the financial impact of poor adherence is widely quoted throughout health policy media and in health care payer, prescription benefit manager and pharmacy industry meetings.
• As part of its “Thinking Outside the Pill Box” series (nine reports over seven years), NEHI outlines evidence and recommendations for building pro-adherence interventions into strategies that support major health policy goals, (payment models for population health management, reduction of avoidable hospital readmissions, etc.)
• In 2009, with passage of the HITECH Act to accelerate adoption of healthcare IT applications, NEHI provides supporting testimony and research for the inclusion of computerized physician order entry systems (CPOE) in HITECH funding. NEHI releases recommendations for promoting appropriate nationwide use of tele-ICU systems.
• NEHI publishes a report on recommended principles of comparative effectiveness research (CER). The report is the centerpiece of a half day Washington meeting that NEHI organizes with major stakeholders and the IOM study team.
• With enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, NEHI publishes successive reports on CER priorities for consideration by the newly created Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

New Name, and a Focus on Novel Healthcare Delivery Models: 2015 - 2020

• NEHI adopts a new name (NEHI-Network for Excellence in Health Innovation) to better communicate its national mission.
• As health care payers (public and private) resolve to push American medicine towards value-based care, NEHI begins a multi-year series of projects on the practical barriers to adoption of alternative payment models for biopharmaceuticals.
• NEHI convenes stakeholders and issues reports on opportunities and challenges resulting from accelerated drug approvals by the FDA; outstanding policy barriers to adoption of value-based arrangements (VBAs); barriers to adoption of VBAs for novel cancer drugs; best practices for inclusion of the patient voice in VBA design; and recommendations for uptake of appropriate VBAs to cover novel therapies in Massachusetts.
• In a series of Washington-based meetings, NEHI convenes stakeholders to identify opportunities and recommendations for utilization of telehealth and other less-traditional channels for care delivery. The resulting report, “Health Care Without Walls,” anticipates the telehealth expansion soon catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Championing  COVID Policies and Post-COVID Innovations: 2020 -2024

• With the outbreak of COVID-19, NEHI organizes a series of four virtual summit meetings to identify and publicize best practices and strategies for mass vaccination with a focus on ensuring access to and uptake of vaccines by underserved populations.
• NEHI also convenes stakeholders and makes recommendations for improvements in Medicare vaccination coverage that are circulated throughout the congressional committees of jurisdiction.
• Eli Lilly & Company commissions NEHI to organize a virtual national summit on health equity, resulting in the publication of “Equity in Health and Health Care: A Roadmap to Collaborative Action.” NEHI and Lilly also partner to advance clinical trial diversity, an issue highlighted by the COVID pandemic. NEHI undertakes its first-ever projects on mental and behavioral health, addressing longstanding gaps in patient access to behavioral health services, now made more acute by the COVID-19 pandemic. It publishes a comprehensive report on the current state of efforts to integrate behavioral health into primary care, as well as a Health Affairs Forefront piece highlighting potential solutions.
• Anticipating legislative action in Massachusetts, NEHI focuses on recommendations for scaling behavioral health integration among practices in the Commonwealth by aligning payer policies and approaches to address practices’ priority challenges.
• With funding from the Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute, NEHI focuses on adoption of tele-mental health services for Medicaid patients and, separately, for individuals with substance use disorders. A complementary project studies the importance of training providers in the delivery of tele-mental health services.
• NEHI initiates a series of projects on administrative simplification with a cadre of payers, health systems, and physicians in Massachusetts, including testifying on and developing a state-wide plan and mandate for prior authorization automation.
  
• As GLP-1 medications approach approval for obesity in 2022, NEHI convenes patient advocates, obesity specialists and virtual care experts to outline a plan for population health management of obesity and identifies critical gaps in policy, quality and performance metrics, provider support and data infrastructure. A call to action is published in Health Affairs Forefront.
• NEHI completes several projects inspired by new advances in technologies for early detection of disease:
  • NEHI’s 2020-21 project brings together national experts to recommend a framework for FDA evaluation of multi-cancer early detection (MCED) blood tests.
  • Reports released in 2024 examine the policy and practice challenges posed by new diagnostics for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia screening, including novel blood-based biomarker tests, novel digital tools, and AI-enabled predictive analytics.

Celebrating and Continuing Our Legacy: December 2024

We are sad to end NEHI’s tenure, but we are confident that our members and the many individuals on whom we have relied for expertise and advice will carry our mission forward in their own way. We give thanks to our board members, past and present, for their commitment, stewardship and support. We know our staff will make great contributions to other organizations and to healthcare and that the relationships they developed with all of you will have lasting meaning. Thank you.