Omaha System solutions: Advancing the capacity for clinical data exchange

Increasingly, public health administrators are responding to mandates to describe, quantify, and communicate data about the quality and costs of the clinical services they provide. Challenges related to these mandates include standardization, interoperability, and harmonization of data elements. In 2003, US DHHS announced its plan to require providers to submit comparable data, and selected SNOMED CT®, LOINC, and HL7 as reference terminologies and national messaging standards for data exchange. The Omaha System, a research-based classification that exists in the public domain, can contribute to meeting the clinical data exchange challenges. It is included in the three messaging standards, and has passed the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) Tier 2 criteria for use cases. The Omaha System is commonly used at the point-of care in public health settings nationally and internationally to describe multidisciplinary practice, document assessments and services, and demonstrate outcomes. It consists of the Problem Classification Scheme, the Intervention Scheme, and the Problem Rating Scale for Outcomes. Approximately 8000 multidisciplinary practitioners, educators, and researchers use Omaha System software in the United States and other countries. For example, in the United Kingdom, use of the Omaha System began in 1998 with a pilot project involving health visitors (public health nurses). Interest increased and in 2003 a national computer vendor started to develop Omaha System software for multidisciplinary practitioners to document care and produce aggregate data for their managers. In 2006, that software was made available for use throughout the UK. The number and type of computer software vendors offering automated Omaha System clinical information systems continue to increase rapidly, serving diverse customers across a wide range of health care settings. The other three speakers in this session will describe their Omaha System experiences in education and practice settings.