Hawaii Beacon Touts New Successes

Says 'aloha' to telehealth, new care models

When ONC reported to Congress last month on both the HITECH Act's achievements and the barriers left to overcome, officials cited notable progress seen across the $250 million Beacon Community projects. Hawaii Island Beacon Community is one among them reporting that they're now more connected than ever, with 84 percent of their primary care physicians having adopted electronic health records. 
 
In 2010, ONC awarded the Hawaii Island Beacon Community $16.1 million in funding to spur health information technology efforts within the community. And despite being billed as one of the most rural and geographically isolated of the 17 Beacon Communities, HIBC has reported improvements after expanding health information exchange and tapping into telemedicine technologies and new care delivery models.