Kona Hospital Staff Gears Up
The State hospital system is moving to the next generation of patient care by implementing a new medical records system statewide..
Around 100 medical, hospital, and information technology professionals will spend a month at Kona Community Hospital starting next Monday to field test the new system.
Hawaii Health Systems Corporation has 14 hospitals and long term care facilities throughout the state. On Hawaii Island, that includes Kona Community Hospital, and Kohala Hospital, Hilo Medical Center and Ka’u Hospital, plus the long term care facility Hale Ho’ola Hamakua, and the Veterans Home in Hilo. HHSC is the fourth largest public health system in the country.
HHSC has been working with Siemens Medical Solution USA since last September to design, build, and test the new medical records system. The goal is to make sure a patient can easily be served by any HHSC facility in the state. Doctors will have the most up-to-date information when they see a patient—even if they’ve come from another island. And even if they arrive at night, when the normal hospital records departments are closed.
The cost of the system is $74.3 million, spread over five years. But Dennis Macklin, director of information technology at Kona Community Hospital, says there will be benefits and efficiencies in nearly every department throughout the system. Macklin says the most significant benefit will be improved patient outcomes.
The systems are not identical to but modeled after the systems currently in use by the Veterans Administration Hospitals and Kaiser Permanente.
The test starts Monday. And if all goes well, the system will go live at Kona and Kohala Hospitals on February 1.
And as a side benefit of the month-long systems test, the 100 personnel will be staying at local hotels, eating at local restaurants, renting cars, and enjoying local sights and activities when they’re not hard at work–a boost for the economy.
