B2B Technologies Launches Hawaiian Medical Research App

Software tracks diabetes among native Hawaiians

ATLANTA, GA, April 30, 2002 – B2B Technologies (www.b2btech.com), an Atlanta-based developer of collaborative Internet applications, announced today that Lamalama Ka`Ili Community Health Services and Molokai General Hospital have gone live with its Molokai Diabetes Study software application. This application is designed to capture information for the study of diabetes management among those ethnic populations in the State of Hawaii that are impacted by diabetes. These include the minority ethnic populations that are also the predominant populations in Hawaii: Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, and other Asian and Pacific Islanders. The principal investigator of this research study is Ronald E. Aubert, PhD, MSPH. Multi-grant funding was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Minority Health, and the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth under the Health Resources Services Administration.

Data collection had already begun in Molokai, a rural and remote island of 7,000, through gathering demographic data and series of lab data in simple spreadsheets. However, the spreadsheets could not guarantee data quality for the growing quantity of data the study would gather. A patient questionnaire had been developed that needed to be captured in the tool. The challenge was to quickly develop a normalized database and data collection application that would ensure data quality and be extensible for additional labs, out-patient visits, and survey responses. Once built, existing data from spreadsheets would need to be populated into the new database.

“The quality, as well as the security, of patient data was of paramount concern. The system also had to be easy to use. We quickly developed a prototype, and with feedback from Dr. Aubert, we were able to complete this system in four weeks,” said Jim Tebbel, database administrator at B2B Technologies.

Judy Mikami, Director of Lamalama Ka`Ili Community Health Services states, "We appreciate Dr. Aubert’s referral to B2B. He was also able to articulate our needs to them so that B2B responded very rapidly to our needs and built a high quality system for us with very little supervision. They completed the work right on time and on budget and we got it up and running very quickly. For our purposes, this software will enable us to determine how effective our diabetes care management has been for our Molokai patients. It will also give us the ability to project the long term impact on our population’s diabetes status."

Lamalama Ka`Ili Community Health Services and Molokai General Hospital believe that the research made possible by this application will help to understand the increased incidence of diabetes among these populations and lead to improving the management and treatment of patients with diabetes.

About B2B Technologies
Atlanta-based B2B Technologies specializes in delivering interactive Web applications that connect businesses to their employees, customers and suppliers. Clients such as Equifax, Kubota Manufacturing, Samsung, SunTrust Bank and Universal/MCA Records have improved communication, streamlined business processes and increased efficiency by deploying corporate intranets or collaborative extranets from B2B Technologies. For more information please visit www.b2btech.com.