Q: I recently took a friend to the Maui Memorial Medical Center emergency room. She had numerous tests and images taken. She was told that Kaiser computer systems can't share data with non-Kaiser medical clinics on Maui, and that her doctor would have to call and have the information faxed. Is that true, and if so, what is being done to fix it? I can't believe that would be allowed to continue. This is supposed to be a community hospital, not a Kaiser hospital.
The computer system that you are referring to is our EHR (Electronic Health Record) system, built upon the EPIC platform. There are many disparate EHR systems within the community that speak different "languages." This is a universal issue that is unrelated to being affiliated with Kaiser Permanente and existed prior to our transition from a state facility to Maui Health System (MHS). For all EHR systems to be able to communicate seamlessly, dedicated interfaces would need to be built to each provider office and would require both parties to be willing to collaborate, dedicate resources, and share costs to implement. To overcome these challenges, we do offer a provider portal to all our community Primary Care Physicians called Online Affiliate. This web-based tool is linked to our EPIC EHR system and allows physicians to view their patients' medical records if they have been treated at MHS. If there are any access issues with the provider portal, we can then fax or securely transmit the medical records and patient information to providers' offices. MHS is committed to working closely with our community providers to ensure that your information is shared in a reliable, secure, and timely manner, and we will continue to work towards building on our existing platforms to achieve a more integrated solution.