Community hospital system to develop telemedicine network

Hawaii Health Systems Corp. has selected Trestle Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: TLHO) of Irvine, Calif., which makes digital imaging and software products for telemedicine applications, as its primary tech partner in a $500,000 project to bring special medical service and distance learning to rural, underserved communities in Hawaii.

Hawaii Health Systems operates the state's community hospital system, which comprises 12 hospitals spread among the Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai.

The Rural Telemedicine and Telepathology Distance Learning Network of Hawaii -- a consortium of health care and educational providers that includes Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the Kona Hospital Foundation, Clinical Labs of Hawaii and University of Hawaii School of Medical Pathology -- will use a $500,000 Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant from the Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to achieve the following goals:

• to provide education and training to medical pathology residents;
• to provide health professionals, rural patients, families and community members with distance learning services; and
• to give rural Hawaiian communities access to special medical care, especially for chronic conditions.

"Trestle's Internet-enabled microscopy technology will greatly enhance the quality health-care that we currently provide to our rural island communities," Hawaii Health Systems CEO Thomas Driskill Jr. said in a statement. "Trestle's applications will allow us to provide real-time review, examination and diagnosis between physicians and specialists at any of our facilities throughout the islands. This will mean broader access to expertise for all of the physicians and pathologists in our network, as well as better medical care for our rural patients."

Besides online teaching conferences planned for residents throughout the interisland network, the network will allow pathologists to share information almost instantly, reducing diagnosis time and greatly reducing the amount of time needed for a physician to receive expert diagnosis of a tissue sample. Slides are currently sent back and forth between islands via courier. The new system will reduce the time it takes for diagnosis of tissues samples from days to minutes and eliminates the possibility of slides being lost or damaged.

The partners in this statewide grant project to enhance distance learning and medical services include several of Hawaii Health Systems' 12 medical facilities, including Kona Community Hospital, Hilo Medical Center, Kohala Hospital and Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital.