Customer Fact Sheet

The Nebraska Heart Institute (NHI), located in Lincoln, Nebraska, was created in 1987 to develop a comprehensive range of cardiac services as well as to provide care to extended communities across five states, including Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. The Institute has fostered an expansive referral network that contributes to more than 60 percent of patient visits to Lincoln facilities from outside the area.

While impressive, NHI’s growth caused bed capacity issues for the provider, as physicians struggled to provide cardiac services in a timely manner. Out of this need to deliver quality care when patients need it, was born the Nebraska Heart Institute Heart Hospital (NHH), completed in May 2003. Today, NHH includes more than 30 physicians and more than 200 additional nursing, technician, and support staff members who deliver inpatient and outpatient services.

For NHH to achieve its all-digital heart hospital vision, the facility showcases some of the most advanced and integrated medical, information and communications technology, making it one of the most progressive hospitals in the nation. Using a mix of diagnostic, therapeutic, monitoring, and IT solutions from Siemens, NHH’s electronic health record (EHR), accessible via smart card technology, enables secure, anywhere, anytime access to patient data, images and physiologic waveforms. Comprehensive real-time information access is a powerful tool that supports NHH’s progressive care model.

After one year of operation in May 2004, NHH had performed 605 open-heart procedures, 353 vascular surgical procedures and 700 cardiac interventions. Among the successes documented during that time:

• Through May 2004, NHH’s actual average length of stay was 2.5 days, compared to the projected length of stay of 4.3 days.


• By the end of May 2004, NHH projected 1,636 discharges. Actual discharges numbered 2,551—but with the same number of staff that was originally projected for the 1,636, a clear indication of productivity exceeding expectations.


• Patient satisfaction levels are high, with over 97 percent indicating they would return.


• Initial calculations identified that it might take two years to break even financially, but that objective was achieved in seven months.

Sandra Vogeler is Chief Operations Officer for NHH. An RN for 12 years, her clinical experience includes intensive care and emergency department nursing along with various supervisory nursing positions. She also has six years’ experience as a consultant implementing clinical information systems and clinical workflow design, and working to effectively manage change associated with projects of this type. Vogeler’s work with NHH began with managing the technology aspects of the institution.

For more information visit www.nebraskaheart.com or contact MedicalPR@sms.siemens.com.

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