MEDIA RELEASE

Hawaii Island Beacon Community has awarded a $680,000 contract to North Hawaii Community Hospital to implement a Health Information Exchange system throughout the North Hawaii region, impacting more than 32,000 patients and marking the first step toward an island-wide HIE.

Implementation has begun and will continue through 2012.

NHCH’s existing vendor partner Wellogic has already laid the technical foundation for the HIE, connecting information systems from NHCH; affiliated physician groups; two statewide labs; all pharmacies, radiology and imaging centers in the region; a national database of dispensed prescriptions; and a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).

“We are pleased to support the groundbreaking initiatives of NHCH to help providers in the North Hawaii region adopt and benefit from the latest technology in health care,” said Susan B. Hunt, M.H.A., project director and CEO of HIBC.

“NHCH has pioneered the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by North Hawaii providers and helped to achieve a nearly 95 percent adoption rate — one of the highest for any community nationwide. The region is more than ready to take the next step, and both patients and providers will benefit from the streamlined operations that a secure HIE system makes possible,” she said.

“It’s an exciting breakthrough for health care in North Hawaii,” said William Park, M.D., chief medical officer and general surgeon at NHCH, who has championed the region’s HIE since the project’s inception. “Our partnership with Wellogic has been very successful, and we have built up to a smooth launch. Through access to comprehensive, up-to-date patient information for providers and, eventually, patients themselves, care will be more efficient, more easily coordinated and more holistic.”

Wellogic staff will be conducting training for all North Hawaii providers. In addition, HIBC staff, in partnership with staff from the Hawaii Pacific Regional Extension Center (REC), will continue ongoing support related to the adoption and use of EHR.

In addition to supporting and assisting with EHR and HIE implementation, HIBC is working to effect clinical transformation, particularly in terms of greater coordination of and access to care for patients who are most at-risk for chronic diseases, and conducting outreach by awarding $300,000 to the community in the form of Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL) Grants.

Hawaii Island Beacon Community is a $16.1 million, island-wide, federally funded, collaborative project administered through the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, working to improve health care on Hawaii Island.

Through technology, clinical transformation, and outreach, HIBC is committed to improving the health of Hawaii Island residents and empowering them to be more actively involved in their own health.

North Hawaii Community Hospital (NHCH) is a rural 29-­bed acute care hospital in Waimea. Nonprofit, community owned and locally governed, the hospital opened in May 1996 and cares for Big Island residents and visitors.

NHCH offers an extensive set of hospital services that are centered on patient needs, creating a healing experience for the whole person—mind, body and spirit.

Wellogic provides industry-certified interoperability, point-of-care, and patient engagement solutions for connecting the health care community and enabling safety, efficiency and convenience in care delivery. With more than 15 years of experience facilitating meaningful interoperability and enhancing clinical workflow, the company truly understands the complexity of health care. It has developed a depth of experience in solving some of the most challenging issues confronting the industry today.

Wellogic’s award-winning Web-based connectivity solutions for physicians and caregivers, patients, health systems and Health Information Exchanges are consistently recognized as the most usable, flexible and scalable solutions available, and are used daily to deliver safer, more cost-effective care for millions of patients.

North Hawaii Health Information Exchange

Benefits

* Better, safer patient care as patient information is unified across all venues of care—providers’ offices, hospitals and long-term care facilities; emergency rooms; laboratories; imaging centers; pharmacies; and, ultimately, patients’ homes—and available for more informed decision making.

* More cost-effective care that promotes adherence to best practices, encourages patient compliance and wellness, reduces unnecessary interventions, and reduces health care costs by helping patients stay healthier.

* Higher efficiency via secure communication between providers, their staff, trading partners, and their patients as information is delivered to patients and their care team in real time.

Participating Organizations

Along with 15 private practitioners in the Waimea community, these organizations will be connected through the North Hawaii HIE:

* E-Prescription Network
* Surescripts
* Physician Groups
* Hawaii Emergency Physicians Associated North Hawaii Community Hospital
* North Hawaii Hospitalist Physicians
* North Hawaii Medical Group
* Federally Qualified Health Center
* Hamakua Health Center
* Labs
* Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii Diagnostic Laboratory Services
Radiology
* Cleveland Clinic radiologists at North Hawaii Community Hospital

Software Features

* Community-wide Patient History: All available information about a patient from all venues of care will be displayed in provider and patient portals or pushed to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) used in providers’ offices, thus improving care coordination and collaboration between providers and their patients.

* Secure Orders and Messaging: Providers can order tests and medications, as well as make referrals and consultation requests with full knowledge of other pending orders across the community. Providers and their staff can easily track the status of their requests, and safely and securely communicate with their peers, patients, and service providers.

* Meaningful Use EHR: Providers who do not have EHRs can meet their Meaningful Use requirements easily and at little cost, while delivering more informed and safer care and at the same time improving the operational efficiency of their offices and communication with their patients.

* Clinical Decision Support and Registries: Evidence-based patient-specific alerts and reminders allow providers to better comply with their specialty’s best practices; improve their own operations based on practice-specific measures; and encourage patients to comply with their care plans via personalized alerts, reminders, and home-based diagnostics.

— Find out more:
www.hibeacon.org
www.nchc.com
www.wellogic.com