NAME OF NETWORK
An Electronic Health Record Implementation for Critical Access Hospitals and Clinics in the Kaua`i Region of the Hawai`i Health Systems Corporation

Name of Grantee       
Hawaii State Department of Health, Hawaii State Office of Rural Health

Principal Investigator/Project Manager        
Norman Okamura

Address 2424 Maile Way, Saunders 713  Honolulu, HI 96822   
Phone 808.956.2909
Fax 808.956.8019
E-mail norman@tipg.net

Project Purpose
This FLEX CAH HIT Network Implementation project, submitted by the Department of Health of the State of Hawai‘i, the Kaua‘i Region of the Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation (HHSC), and the Telecommunications and Information Policy Group of the University of Hawai‘i as partners, seeks to implement the open source version of the VistA EHR system for two Critical Access Hospitals and four clinics that are part of the HHSC Kaua‘i Region Network.  The project will establish a continuity of care and improve quality, patient safety, and cost-effectiveness.

The project seeks to (1) develop necessary enhancements to the existing VistA EHR system, and establish infrastructure in areas with limited or no connectivity to improve the accessibility of clinical information and results for clinicians; (2) implement security protocols in the VistA EHR to enable the HHSC Kaua‘i Region network authorized access to patient records; (3) implement chronic disease care management tools to improve disease management and patient care; (4) develop application interfaces with patient management and billing systems to improve efficiencies; (5) develop internal resources to further deploy and sustain EHR implementations in Hawai‘i; (6) evaluate the implementation and usability of the EHR to provide lessons learned for future VistA (or other EHR) implementations.

Outcome Measures/Expectations
This project seeks to provide a functioning EHR based off of the Hui OpenVista (HOV) software. Towards that end the expected outcomes are as follows:

1. System Implementation and Customization—the base HOV software will be modified to meet the workflow requirements of the CAHs and clinics.
2. Chronic Disease Care Management—this project will implement a chronic disease care management capability focused on diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
3. Outpatient Billing Interface—the project team will assess if HHSC’s current outpatient billing system, TeamPraxis, is capable of interfacing with HOV and / or McKesson Series. If these capabilities are not possible, alternative solutions will be implemented since billing for services is fundamental to the functioning of these systems.
4. Resource Development—the Partners will work to ensure that the project team can support the long-term needs for ICT personnel that can support the system.

Service Area
The service area will bring together two critical access hospitals (CAH) and four clinics in the county of Kaua‘i. The Kaua‘i County encompasses the islands of Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau. Both CAHs and the clinics are on the island of Kaua‘i and service the population of Ni‘ihau, which has no medical facilities.

Network Members

Equipment/Vendors or Collaborative Partners

Go to: Top | HRSA | HHS | Disclaimer | Accessibility | Privacy