COVID-19 IMPACT REPORT: BURDEN-FREE COMMUNITY TESTING TO GET NEBRASKANS BACK TO SCHOOL, WORK AND LIFE
Nomi Health was founded on the simple yet powerful premise that healthcare can work better for all if it is paid for and delivered more directly. The Nomi Health team’s decades of cross-functional expertise in healthcare, finance and technology mean we can materialize this vision for buyers of healthcare, from state governments to corporate enterprises. Our team of more than 2,000 works toward this vision every day, starting with our programs in communities nationwide bringing COVID care directly to those who need it most. Our COVID-19 response programs in Nebraska and across the nation showed us all that a more direct healthcare system is not only possible, but also critical.
The TestNebraska Approach: Burden-Free Community Testing for All
Governor Ricketts’ early and swift action facilitated the launch of TestNebraska on April 21, 2020. At the time, Nomi Health and our partners were among the only companies able to deliver the operational know-how and quality supply chain needed -- including prized PPE and FDA EUA-authorized COVID tests. Indeed, state labs were running critically short on testing supplies in early April, just weeks after the first coronavirus case was identified in Nebraska. As Doug Carlson noted, “Test Nebraska was the only option available that would have allowed Nebraska to ramp up its testing this quickly.”
From those early days through its final day of operation on July 18, 2021, TestNebraska provided easy access to testing for more than 1 million Nebraskans by:
Creating and implementing an end-to-end statewide community testing program with qualified staff and efficient patient experience flows;
Deploying a digital registration platform that is ISO 270001, FedRAMP, HITRUST and HIPAA-compliant;
Mobilizing quickly to set up and fully validate an automated, CLIA-certified lab at CHI Health St. Elizabeth in less than one week -- a process that typically takes one month or more;
Leveraging a scalable supply chain that included tests authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under their Emergency Use Authorization protocols; and
Equipping the State with critical data, allowing you and others to make informed, real-time decisions about COVID response.
Throughout, we stayed true to our founding mission to make healthcare actually work for all involved, while helping the State realize its vision of deploying one of the very few burden-free testing programs in the country - ahead of many of your neighbors. TestNebraska also facilitated the State administering more tests than more populous neighboring states.
TestNebraska’s Impact -- 1 Million Nebraskans Served
TestNebraska stood as one of the very few “burden free” testing programs in the country - requiring no doctor’s note, no symptoms, and no insurance for access to critical testing. This depth of access starting so early in the pandemic -- open to everyone from emergency personnel to asymptomatic citizens -- was key to the State’s success in slowing the spread of coronavirus; key to peace of mind for Nebraskans and their families; and key to keeping the State open as safely as possible. The program empowered Nebraskans to get back to school, work and life as we know it, so that the economy could stay open. As Governor Ricketts noted, “Nebraska ranked sixth in the country for having kids in the classrooms, the third best for people surviving COVID-19 and had the average lowest unemployment rate.” Focused on testing for the community, the program brought COVID care directly to those Nebraskans who need it most, testing law enforcement, emergency personnel and healthcare workers in the earliest days of the pandemic; testing in colleges and universities; long-term care facilities; rural communities; women’s prisons; meatpacking plants; factories; railyards; agricultural farms; and homeless shelters. Together, we delivered care to the State’s Somali community with Swahili-speaking field teams. Together, we were nimble and responsive in the face of an ever-evolving pandemic, implementing new sites in response to the needs of local health departments from West Central District to Elkhorn Logan Valley.
When the holidays came, the teams decorated sites with Christmas lights and holiday cheer to make the experience more friendly for families and young children. When you saw that traditional healthcare infrastructure was not reaching Nebraska’s rural communities, we worked with you and partners such as Mark McCurdy of Mark’s pharmacy to ensure everyone -- regardless of location -- had easy access to no-cost community testing.
TestNebraska’s Impact by the Numbers:
More than 1 million Nebraskans tested
Approximately halfway through TestNebraska, the program had hosted nearly half of all testing in the state
Over 1.5 million online testing assessments completed
95% accuracy in TestNebraska lab validations run by Nebraska’s CHI Health
$25 cost per test vs. national average of $148
41-hour average turnaround time for PCR results, and as low as under 15 hours in 2021
Testing access to all long-term care facilities in the state, totaling approximately 400
More than a dozen colleges and universities served
Over 70% of testing locations outside of major metro areas
50 people working across Nebraska everyday
The accuracy of TestNebraska has been validated time and again under the leadership of the state’s public health officials. Nomi was proud to partner with the State and with CHI Health, the local CLIA-certified lab chosen by the State. Based on validations with the Nebraska Public Health Lab, TestNebraska’s population-based sensitivity rate was 95% and the diagnostic specificity rate was 94%.Together with PCR tests from global leader Co-Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) -- which has maintained FDA authorization through the U.S. government’s Emergency Use Authorization -- Nebraskans had easy, unhindered access to the gold standard of testing. Even as the FDA has added nearly 300 tests to its “do not use” list, Co-Diagnostics remains a trusted, validated supplier of quality tests.
When TestNebraska came to an end, we opened our own sites across the State to continue to serve the community -- sites where no Nebraskan is turned away regardless of insurance status.
Along the way, Nomi has gladly invested in your communities, contributing to programs and organizations such as Do Right Right Now, and partaking in the business community as a member of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Nebraska has been a pivotal part of Nomi’s record of impact, and we intend to continue to invest in the State following the pandemic. TestNebraska’s success emboldened us in our mission to apply a direct healthcare model beyond COVID and make healthcare work for everyone.
