Lokahi Healthcare Accelerator
AI-native health infrastructure in Hawaii
3,348 participants and 46 AI health apps — statewide data access, hackathons, and acceleration for Hawaii’s health system.
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Overview
On December 6, 2024, Hawaii launched the Lokahi Healthcare Accelerator — AI-native solutions and broad data access backed by state, federal, and private support, aimed at modernizing care statewide and nationally.
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The challenge
Rising healthcare costs
Fragmented care delivery
Widening disparities
Siloed, hard-to-use health data
Hawaii needed unified infrastructure to scale innovation across the state and beyond.
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The Lokahi initiative
The program opens access to anonymized, tokenized datasets: claims, EMRs, diagnostics, genetics, pharmacy, and public health registries — a foundation for AI-driven health products.
Data access
Claims, prescriptions (90%+ coverage), diagnostics, and genetic data
Integration across Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial payers
Broad demographic and geographic coverage
Hackathons
3,348 global participants
135 teams
46 functional AI applications
Acceleration
Top teams enter a dedicated accelerator
MVP and GTM support
AI-native leadership in healthcare
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Funding and support
| Source | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| CMS AHEAD | $1.7B | All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development |
| DHS MIX | $92M | Medicaid Innovation and Xceleration infrastructure |
Leadership under Dr. Jack Lewin (Hawaii SHPDA), with the State of Hawaii, CMS, DHS, and collaborators including ICON, WebShield, Tempus AI, Milliman, Amazon, EP3 Foundation, and others.
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Why Hawaii
History of innovation (e.g. Prepaid Health Care Act, integrated Medicaid)
Strong data infrastructure (e.g. APCD)
Alignment with CMS value-based care goals toward 2030
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Expected outcomes
Patient-centric care via an AI-driven marketplace
Scalable AI across payers, providers, and agencies
Equity-focused interventions
Financial sustainability through advanced value-based models
Lokahi aims to scale proven solutions, prioritize underserved communities, and offer a blueprint for national, data-driven healthcare reform.