Hawaii's Health Information Helping Others ("HIHO") Health Information Exchange Expands Wellogic Implementation to Include Direct Project

HONOLULU and BOSTON, April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Seventy Hawaii physicians in private practice on the island of Oahu have come together to form Health Information Helping Others or "HIHO" as a pilot project of the Hawaii Health Information Exchange. A strategic goal of HIHO is to discover how grass-roots physician involvement can positively impact the design and implementation of an HIE. HIHO and its HIE partner, Wellogic, have been implementing a comprehensive exchange that will enable collaboration and care coordination across all connected organizations. HIHO has now chosen to use Wellogic's Direct Project capabilities as an "on-ramp" to rapidly bring physicians who do not currently have an EHR into the effort, and to enable secure messaging with those who have Direct capable solutions.

The Direct Project, under the guidance of ONC and NHIN, specifies a simple, secure, scalable, standards-based way for participants to send authenticated, encrypted health information directly to known, trusted recipients over the Internet. It also establishes guidelines for the creation and operation of Health Information Service Providers (HISPs) to facilitate Direct Project implementation and operation. The direct, push method afforded by the Direct Project leverages the Internet to allow physicians to share clinical information in a secure way and is an important component of HIHO's overall roadmap for connected healthcare in Hawaii.

According to Dr. David Saito, who heads up the HIHO effort along with a Steering Committee of other practicing physicians, "HIHO and Wellogic will work together toward making this pilot implementation successful and then taking the lessons learned to other healthcare communities in Hawaii. With the tools and patient information our HIE will provide to them, each and every Hawaii physician will be a more effective clinician, and we expect a higher level of patient care as a result."

"Wellogic has enjoyed tremendous input and support from HIHO's participants as we roll out our exchange across Oahu," said Sumit Nagpal, Wellogic's President and CEO. "Providing users with Wellogic's Direct Project capabilities will enable additional physicians and patients to join this important effort. We are delighted to welcome HIHO into our growing roster of Direct Project implementations."

About HIHO

Health Information Helping Others (HIHO) is a grass-roots effort lead by Dr. David Saito and a Steering Committee of physicians practicing medicine in the Aiea area of Oahu, Hawaii. A physician-led effort, HIHO is a pilot project of the Hawaii Health Information Exchange that is helping to develop the organizational strategies, policies and technology to facilitate the exchange of medical information between doctors in private practice in Hawaii.

About Wellogic

Wellogic (www.wellogic.com) provides industry-certified interoperability and point-of-care solutions for connecting the healthcare community and enabling safety, efficiency, and convenience in care delivery. With more than fifteen years' experience facilitating meaningful interoperability and enhancing clinical workflow, the company truly understands the complexity of healthcare. It has developed a depth of experience in solving some of the most challenging issues confronting the industry today. Wellogic's award-winning web-based connectivity solutions for physicians and caregivers, patients, health systems and health information exchanges are consistently recognized as the most usable, flexible and scalable solutions available, and are used daily to deliver safer, more cost-effective care for millions of patients. For additional information, go to www.wellogic.com, or call or call Kumar Swaminathan at 626-688-3584.

SOURCE Wellogic