Project ECHO Hawaiʻi

Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an innovative medical education and mentoring model that builds primary care capacity while improving access to specialty health care in rural communities.. The Project ECHO® model does not provide direct patient care. Instead, it increases access to specialty treatment by providing front-line clinicians with the knowledge and support needed to manage patients with complex conditions.

ECHO Hawaii is a partnership between Hawaii State Rural Health Association, Hawaii Department of Health State Office of Primary Care and Rural Health, Hawaii Area Health Education Center and the Pacific Basin Telehealth Resource Center.

What ECHO Hawaii DOES:

• Increase health workforce capacity
• Decentralize specialty knowledge
• Provide no-cost CME to participants
• Leverage telehealth technology
• Incorporate guided case-based learning
• Promote best practice and measure outcomes

What ECHO Hawaii DOES NOT DO:

• Provide direct patient care
• Practice “telemedicine” (provider to patient)
• Charge providers to participate
• Promote any commercial product
• Bill for medical services

The Hawaii State Rural Health Association serves as the lead agency for ECHO Hawai`i and is dedicated to replicating this unique telehealth model across our island state. The goal of ECHO Hawaii is to develop a comprehensive multi-disciplinary group of clinical and community experts (hub site) committed to continuously mentoring primary care providers (spoke sites) in specialty areas. ECHO Hawaii aims to engage providers from all health care areas and disciplines such as primary care, mental health, oral health, advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, and community health workers.

Participation is from wherever you are, via Zoom, a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based video conferencing service. Participants have the option to join using their computer, tablet, or even smart phone. Each ECHO clinic will consist of a brief didactic session, followed by a case presentation, review and discussion. To effectively build communities of practice, providers will present actual patient cases (de-identified) to the mentor team, and participate in group peer-to-peer discussions. All participants will receive free continuing education credits for each session they attend. An ECHO Hawai`i website is currently in development and will provide additional details such as registration information, clinic calendar, resources, and online tools.