He also expects FirstHealth to be at the forefront of that movement.

“There are a number of initiatives that FirstHealth of the Carolinas wants to investigate and implement that should do even more to improve the delivery of the quality patient care for which FirstHealth is nationally known,” says David B. Dillehunt.

“While FirstHealth is already very technologically oriented, we want to take that technology to the next step. We want to integrate all aspects of FirstHealth into one seamless organization so that wherever the patient goes — from the Emergency Department to home care — he is recognized as part of the FirstHealth family and access to our care is expedited wherever the patient goes.”

Dillehunt said such initiatives include maximizing the use of the Internet to help educate the public about health-care matters and to provide clinical reference information; digitally storing and distributing clinical images; and increasing the use of bar-code technologies for rapid access of information to professionals involved in direct patient care.

“FirstHealth is doing the right things and doing them the right way, and I’m excited to be a part of the team,” he says.

Dillehunt joined FirstHealth June 18 after 17 years as vice president for Information Systems and chief information officer for Cape Fear Valley Health System in Fayetteville. Previously, he was director of Management Information Systems for the Liggett Group Inc. in Durham and Montvale, N.J.

While at Cape Fear Valley, Dillehunt used one centralized data center to merge four hospitals into an integrated delivery system and was recognized in 1999 as one of health-care information technology’s 18 most influential people by Advance Magazine for Health Information Executives.

“While he was at Cape Fear Valley, David’s leadership resulted in the system’s being named three years running as one of health care’s 100 ‘Most Wired’ Hospitals by Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine and Deloitte Consulting,” says Derry Walker, FirstHealth’s senior vice president for Corporate Services. “Obviously we are very pleased to add his expertise to our Information Systems staff.”

A 1973 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a certified systems professional since 1984, Dillehunt is working on a Masters of Public Management degree at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He is married and has two teen-age daughters.

Headquartered in Pinehurst, FirstHealth of the Carolinas is the first integrated, not-for-profit health care system in the mid-Carolinas.