Why has NEHI decided to dissolve?

When NEHI was created more than 20 years ago, we provided a unique forum for fostering the collaboration of healthcare leaders from diverse parts of the health care industry to promote innovations that added to health care quality and sustainability. While there is still much work to be done, many larger, well-established organizations are now facilitating this collaboration. It is the culmination of this growing investment by other organizations, coupled with the headwinds and challenges currently facing NEHI and other small non-profits, that has led us to the decision to wind down its operations.

What are NEHI's major accomplishments?

Over  the past 20+ years, NEHI has advanced technologies that mitigate prescription errors, enhance medication adherence, and improve ICU care. NEHI has proposed solutions that reduce wasteful spending and increase patient safety. It has focused on improving the adoption and use of innovations that treat prevalent conditions that reduce life expectancy, like diabetes and obesity, and examined the use of alternative payment arrangements to promote accountability for effectiveness and efficiency. More recently, NEHI has focused on opportunities and challenges presented by novel diagnostics for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and turned its attention to the adoption of care models that meet the vast need for behavioral and mental health care.

While we are proud of these achievements, we must acknowledge that many expert voices shaped NEHI’s work. For this reason, we count the relationships NEHI facilitated as a critical contribution, although less tangible than our policy and practice recommendations. We hope these remain part of NEHI’s legacy.

Please see the NEHI Retrospective document for a more comprehensive look at the many innovations NEHI has advanced during its tenure.

What is the status of recently completed and current projects that NEHI is leading?

Tackling Barriers to Clinical Trial Diversity: Findings From a Collaboration Among Community-Focused Organizations in Indiana                       In partnership with Eli Lilly and Company, NEHI recently released its final report on a two-year community focused effort to improve clinical trial diversity in Indiana. The project demonstrated the importance of improving knowledge and awareness about clinical trials by involving trusted messengers. With input and direction from a board of researchers, community-based organizations, and other health industry stakeholders, NEHI and Lilly led an initiative that relied on faith-based leaders with deep connections to the Black community to share information about the research process and the role of clinical research trials. Please read our full report to learn more about the impact of the initiative and the lessons we learned. We hope that these can inform similar community-focused efforts. Thank you to Kristi Mitchell, who partnered with NEHI throughout the work.

Behavioral Health and Primary Care Integration: Accelerating Adoption in Massachusetts Through Stakeholder Alignment                            Despite evidence demonstrating the effectiveness and importance of improving access to behavioral healthcare, less than 40% of primary care groups have incorporated any type of behavioral health integration in their practices, with far fewer adopting recognized models of integration. With the goal of expanding behavioral health integration by primary care practices in Massachusetts, NEHI engaged leaders in primary care, commercial and government payers, and vendors offering behavioral health integration solutions  to discuss the issue and identify potential approaches to advance improved access to behavioral healthcare. For more details on the stakeholder discussions, key challenges that must be addressed, and potential solutions, please see the project summary.

Project team members will continue to pursue work in this area with current partners in 2025. 

Prior Authorization                                                                                                                                                                                               NEHI recently concluded a project on prior authorization for the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF). Prior authorization remains a complex topic inviting reforms and innovation. If you were not able to attend the webinar hosted by CHCF on December 11, please see their website for the recording.

As noted below, individual members of the NEHI team will transition to the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC) and continue work in this area. Please visit https://www.mahealthconnector.org to learn more about ongoing efforts to automate prior authorization in Massachusetts, among other initiatives to improve the prior authorization process.

Capacity Building for Patient Engagement in PCOR on the Effective Use of Telehealth in Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Treatment NEHI is in the process of transferring its current PCORI-awarded work, “Capacity Building for Patient Engagement in PCORI/CER on the Effective Use of Telehealth in SUD Treatment,” to one of its project partners, Community Catalyst. As a national non-profit health advocacy organization dedicated to advancing a movement for health equity and justice, Community Catalyst is well-equipped to assume lead project management responsibilities for this work. The organization is particularly skilled at meaningful engagement of stakeholders and group facilitation and has successfully used these skills to boost the engagement of people with SUD in many initiatives across the country that expanded prevention, health coverage, and treatment access.

Dusan Stojicic, MS, Associate Director for Substance Use Disorders and the Justice-Involved Population Program at Community Catalyst (dstojicic@communitycatalyst.org) will assume Project Lead responsibilities. Community Catalyst and Black Faces Black Voices will finalize the Guidance Report in March 2025, which will detail recommendations on sustaining mutual engagement between individuals with lived SUD experience and researchers. The project team will also host a webinar to disseminate findings following the release of the Guidance Report.

NEHI project staff will continue to support the project team in an informal capacity and as needed. The project remains on track for completion by May 31, 2025.

Cell & Gene Therapies (CGT)                                                                                                                                                                            Academic medical centers and large health care delivery systems will face numerous challenges if, as expected, cell and gene therapies (CGTs)  proliferate in the years ahead. Tom Hubbard has solicited the views of several key stakeholder organizations on recommendations for provider reimbursement policy that will ensure timely and equitable access to cell and gene therapy administration throughout the country.  Tom expects to convene an informal stakeholder meeting on CGT provider payment in December prior to completing a final report on provider payment that will be available to NEHI members and sponsors. A major patient advocacy group is interested in continuing this work in 2025. For further details interested parties should feel free to contact Tom at  ThomasEHubbard237@outlook.com

Will I be able to access NEHI's past work?

Yes, you will be able to access and download NEHI’s past work on our website through 12/15/2025. We encourage you to download any reports you would like to reference beyond that date.

What is going to happen to NEHI's employees and how can I contact them?

NEHI’s  employees will continue their work to improve health and health care with other organizations. Details and contact information for NEHI team members are provided below:

• Lauren Bedel, MPH, has joined the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC) as an Associate Director for Business Development and Data Governance. She can be reached at lbedel@mahealthdata.org. 
• Cristy Taylor will also be joining the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC) as an Associate Director for Project Management. She can be reached at ctaylor@mahealthdata.org.
• Tom Hubbard has become a Senior Advisor to the NEWDIGS Consortium at the Tufts Medical Center for Biomedical Systems Design. The NEWDIGS program is familiar to many NEHI members for its leadership in organizing multi-stakeholder collaboration for the design of alternative payment models for durable cell and gene therapies. At NEWDIGS Tom will lead a new program on Alzheimer’s disease and other projects now in the development stage. For further details interested parties should feel free to contact Tom at ThomasEHubbard237@outlook.com.
• Wendy Warring will be pursuing retirement but continue to work with MHDC as it launches NEHEN 3.0, a platform that will be critical in the effort to automate prior authorization and improve the exchange of quality measures among payers and providers. She will also work with several organizations to advance behavioral health in the context of primary care. Wendy can be reached at wwarring@mahealthdata.org or wwarring1983@gmail.com.
• Donna Amrhein will continue to work as an independent consultant to support the marketing, membership, and event management efforts for several organizations. She can be reached at DonnaMAmrhein@gmail.com.