1. Improving Health in Rural Hawaii and Throughout the Pacific

2.  Currently, an organizational home for rural health initiatives at UH Hilo  In the future, a magnet for additional rural health resources:  Faculty  Partnerships  Grants

3.  To solve rural health problems throughout the Pacific through research, education, community service, and policy change

4.  To improve life in rural communities through transformative models of health and healthcare

5.  30% of the population in Hawaii are now living in rural area (up from 24% in 1990)  Population increase since 1990:  Honolulu County = 8%  All other counties = 42%

7.  Hawaii’s hospitals spent nearly $112 million in 2008 on hospitalizations that could possibly have been prevented with timely and effective ambulatory care.  Hospitalizations per 1,000 population on Oahu are much lower than the more rural neighbor island hospitalization rate.

8.  DOE grants:  Pacific Pre-pharmacy program established  Achieved accreditation as a provider of CPE and CME  STEP program launched for guaranteed admission for students (5 currently enrolled)  PharmD/DNP dual degree  Rural pharmacy residency program in Maui County

9.  USDA grant  To improve medication safety among elderly in rural areas of Hawaii  Over 700 older adults on Neighbor Islands have received medication safety education  Over 50 healthcare professionals on Neighbor Islands have received CME/CPE/CE for APRN-Rx on medication safety in the elderly

10.  MS degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology  Supported by Tripler Army Medical Center  For doctoral-level clinical psychologists to prescribe medications in the military  Significant impact in rural Hawaii if legislation is passed to grant prescriptive authority to licensed clinical psychologists (vast majority of psychiatric medications are currently prescribed by clinicians with no specialized training in mental health or psychiatry)

11.  The Beacon grant (HHS/ONC-funded)  Hawaii Island Beacon Community was one of 17 communities selected across the nation to receive a Beacon grant  Hawaii Island is the ONLY Beacon community that is 100% rural  GOAL: to improve healthcare quality, cost- efficiency, and population health through clinical transformation, enabling health information technology, and payment reform