The Hawai'i Island Beacon Community (HIBC) is expanding the region's first health information exchange (HIE), after a pilot phase which began last December at North Hawai'i Community Hospital. The Hawaiian HIE will aim to move from island to island, enabling doctors to easily view and share patient records from participating hospitals, doctors' offices, imaging centers, pharmacies, laboratories and other practices.

"The Hawai'i Island Beacon project is all about building a better system of health care delivery by providing better care and managing cost," Susan Hunt, HIBC Project Director and CEO, said in a statement. "It has been a tremendous demonstration of what collaboration, technology, and community partnerships can achieve. We have accomplished a great deal in a relatively short period of time and are looking forward to next steps."

The HIE was designed in collaboration with the physicians and technology leadership at North Hawai'i Community Hospital (NHCH), HIBC, Alere Wellogic, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Charter participants are NHCH, affiliated physicians, and their reference laboratories and imaging centers.