NEWS RELEASE
Date:                June 2, 2021
Contact:          Nathan Hokama
                        nhokama@scsolutions-hi.com
                        (808) 226-7470

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hawai‘i Health Information Exchange
celebrates 15^th anniversary with a track record of success

Honolulu, Hawaii—The Hawai‘i Health Information Exchange (HHIE), the state’s designated health information exchange, celebrates its 15^th anniversary this year with an array of accomplishments.

Robert Hirokawa, president of the HHIE board of directors and CEO of the Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, said the organization, originally funded with federal resources, has made considerable progress to advance its mission to enhance care coordination, improve the health outcomes of Hawai‘i’s patients, and reduce the cost of care for both patients and healthcare providers.

“Much of the work of HHIE occurs out of the limelight but the organization has been a catalyst for healthcare transformation. With the support of government and healthcare community, we have been able to collaboratively address difficult challenges to seamlessly and securely share patient data,” Hirokawa said. “Francis Chan has been key to moving HHIE forward over the past 10 years and we have seen the most progress since 2017 when he began to lead the organization.”

Despite numerous obstacles to overcome “interoperability” — the ability of one electronic medical record system to share patient data with another one — HHIE has achieved a number of accomplishments, many of which were critical to the pandemic response last year.

As a result of the following upgrades, use of HHIE’s portal doubled during the pandemic period, climbing from 37,000 patient charts viewed per month to 75,000 patient charts viewed per month:

• Increased the amount of patient data being shared through HHIE during the height of the pandemic, thanks to emergency COVID-19 funding from the Med-QUEST Division of the Department of Human Services;
  
  
   
• Assisted new labs conducting COVID-19 test results to report to the Department of Health’s Disease Outbreak Control Division to provide accurate daily case count updates;
   
• With the increased use of telehealth because of restrictions on gathering and distancing, HHIE trained providers to look for key information on their patients on the HHIE portal to deliver better care in telemedicine encounters;
   
• Set up real-time alerts to care coordinators in clinics when patients who have high risk conditions visit hospital emergency departments for care; and
   
• Continued working with the Department of Health, hospitals and clinics to improve case reporting to serve as an early alert system for outbreaks or clusters.

HHIE’s services are continuing to expand as the needs in the community change. HHIE is currently conducting a pilot program to use clinical data to support population health analyses to make healthcare decisions for communities. HHIE is also helping to advance information sharing on the social determinants of health that create barriers to access to care.

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About the Hawai‘i Health Information Exchange

The Hawai‘i HIE is a non-governmental 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization established in 2006 to enhance care coordination, to improve quality of life for Hawaii’s people and lower health care costs for both patients and healthcare providers. It is the state’s designated health information exchange, which ultimately will link to the nationwide health information network.