HInet is a secure, health care electronic communication channel (Intranet) in Whatcom County.  St. Joseph Hospital, Northwest Washington Medical Bureau (formerly Whatcom Medical Bureau), and county physicians collaborated to develop this essential community infrastructure which was installed in 1996.  HInet connects the Hospital, payers, physician offices, ancillary providers, skilled nursing facilities and community health services.  HInet also supports the Shared Care Plan Personal Health Record, available to all individuals in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and San Juan Counties via www.sharedcareplan.org.

Initially 105 physician offices were afforded the opportunity to have network connection when PCs, printers, wiring, and connection hardware were installed at their sites.  The initial applications were Microsoft Exchange E-mail and the GE Carecast (formerly IDX LASTWORD®) Electronic Medical Record.  Now, more than 2900 PCs are connected.  Network functionality has steadily grown.  Current resources include: online Imaging and Laboratory results, an Intranet homepage with links to provider communications, network policies and forms, a community web page with links to clinic sites; Internet e-mail and browsing, with links to medical reference sites like MDConsult, Micromedex, Care Notes, UpToDate, Krames online; and a free online Personal Health Record for patients called The Shared Care Plan.

HInet staff consists of 7 individuals.  Mike Bouchard and Gary Thompson provide network and e-mail administration, Lindsay Graves and Terry Stotts staff the HInet helpdesk and perform onsite service for provider office networks. The HInet Director, Lori Nichols, assisted by Kris Creasey, is responsible for business operations, policies, development, marketing, contracting, and communications.  Scott Holen provides accounting services.   Additional staff are hired to support grant funded activities not covered by HInet Access Fees.