In what it terms as "leading-edge innovation," the Hawaii Medical Service Association will roll out early next a program whereby Hawai'i residents will be able to talk to doctors via the Internet, e-mail or telephone through a system that will be available 24 hours a day.

HMSA said it is using technology from American Well Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for the service, which will be available to all Hawai'i residents. HMSA said it believes the program will fill a need and improve access to healthcare statewide and is the first of its type offered by a health plan in the nation.

American Well specializes in healthcare communications solutions. Its Online Healthcare Marketplace, an interactive medium, allows patients and healthcare providers to communicate live. Other features include enabling physicians to view patient information and prescriptions.

Microsoft's role comes in providing its HealthVault program, which enables consumers to collect and manage personal health information.

This can be shared with other parties, such as physicians who are consulting with patients who are consulting with physicians over American Well's system. HealthVault can accommodate information from multiple sources including hospital records, home-monitoring devices and patient entries.

A recent study by TNS Global showed that 45 percent of Hawai'i physicians are likely to participate in the system, HMSA said.