Nebraska establishes board to collate health records under the pretense of healthcare improvement

11/27/2023 / By Belle Carter

The Nebraska legislature passed LB 1183 or the Population Health Information Act in 2020 to create the state’s Health Information Technology (HIT) Board, which now collates health information on all Nebraskans in a centralized data and surveillance system, which the lawmakers claimed will be used in improving patient care.

The HIT board is composed of 17 members who are appointed by the governor and then confirmed by the legislature. The majority of members are said to be credentialed healthcare providers, enabling them to use their clinical experience and expertise to make the most informed decisions about the health data that they help govern. The board also designated CyncHealth, a regional health data utility (HDU) that manages the data of more than five million patients in more than 1,100 healthcare facilities across the Midwest.

The health records that are accessible are patient histories, physicals, discharge summaries, immunization records, radiology, lab and pathology results and ordering, medication history, allergies and advance directives. “When providers aren’t able to communicate, mistakes happen, costs rise, and patients suffer,” CyncHealth said. “That’s why we’re breaking down barriers to deliver the right information at the point of care every time.” The centralized data collection will also enable public health and hospital administrators “to 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,” the HDU said about its team of advisers.

Critics could not help but worry that a centralized system as such could be a step toward the oppressive control of digital ID and digital currency that could sweep the state, the entire nation and eventually the whole world. Stacey Skold, a board member of the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Nebraska Chapter, said she and other chapter members are troubled by the sudden centralization of Nebraska’s health data that has occurred since the pandemic. “My biggest concern is … if you connect the dots, we’ve laid the groundwork for digital IDs and [central bank digital currency] CBDC and that’s alarming,” she said. “When 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.”

At one of the regular CHD Nebraska meetings last year, a member’s daughter told the group she had discovered the HIT Board on the internet and its control of nearly all health data in the state. Alarmed by the implications for privacy, Skold thought, “Gosh, we’ve gotta get a better handle on this.” So, Skold and other chapter members began monitoring the HIT Board meetings on Zoom under the Nebraska Open Meetings Act. They were “horrified” to learn that while CyncHealth is based in Omaha, it is a member of the CARIN Alliance under its old name, Nebraska Health Information Initiative. CARIN is a global multi-sector nonprofit with giant healthcare and digital organization members like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cigna, CVS Health and AARP. It is devoted to developing global digital ID credentials in coordination with the Vaccine Credentials Initiative, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum and other global stakeholders, Skold revealed.

Journalist calls for the rejection of the HIT Board

Independent journalist James Roguski urged the people of Nebraska to “consider exercising their right to reject any act passed by the Nebraska Legislature via the power of referendum.” He cited the Nebraska State Constitution: “The 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.”

He also said that he could not find mention of “any authority granted to the state government to control health, healthcare or health-related data” in the Constitution. “It seems that they are acting outside their constitutional authority when they enacted LB 1183,” he told the Defender.

Meanwhile, Skold said she hopes lawyers will take up the cause in Nebraska to turn back the digital centralization of healthcare records as she has been worrying about the damage to her relationship with providers and a loss of informed consent and privacy. As per CyncHealth, it follows the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) privacy law, which required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

Skold added that she fears she won’t be able to find a doctor who operates outside the system, and that ultimately, she fears total loss of freedom from digital ID and digital currency for herself and her children and the future of humanity. “We’re the test state,” she said. “If we can do something to stop it here, then we can potentially stop it everywhere.” (Related: Gates and his globalist buddies set to accelerate DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE in 50 countries by 2028.)

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