Dr. Stanley Saiki helps make it possible for cash-strapped hospitals to afford EHRs

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WPN/Hugh Gentry
Saiki said the open-source version of VistA is now being used in hospitals in American Samoa and the islands of Kauai and Maui and, soon, in community health centers in West Virginia.

Dr. Stanley Saiki helps make it possible for cash-strapped hospitals to afford EHRs

By Bob Brewin

A study in cooperation

Dr. Stanley Saiki, director of the Pacific Telehealth and Technology Hui located at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, could serve as a poster boy for closer cooperation between the Defense Department and the Veterans Affairs Department on electronic health records (EHR) development.

The hui, which means “group” in the Hawaiian language, is a joint DOD/VA venture managed by the Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, with the VA paying Saiki’s salary.

Under Saiki’s direction, the hui has refined and made available an open-source version of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture and provided a training curriculum for clinical administrators.

Saiki said the open-source version of VistA takes advantage of the massive investment made by the VA in a world-class, award-winning EHR that can be deployed at a far lower cost than commercial systems. He said he believes its low cost makes it a viable platform for deployment in cash-strapped rural hospitals, with one of the first installations at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Tropical Medical Center, a Public Health Service Hospital in American Samoa.

Last year, the hui and Saiki helped push deployment of Hui Open VistA closer to home, helping to field the EHR to rural hospitals on the islands of Kauai and Maui operated by the Hawaii Health Systems. The hui is also working with West Virginia on its deployment of VistA to 20 community health centers, Saiki said.

Saiki said that through its technology transfer efforts, the hui “can help address the disparities in health care” by providing budget-constrained hospitals and clinicians with an affordable EHR that will help patients get better care.