Maui Hospitals Plan For Uncertainty

MAUI HOSPITALS PLAN FOR UNCERTAINTY

HHSC Maui Region Plans For Uncertainty in Operations and Staffing

WAILUKU, MAUI, Hawai‘i (May 19, 2016) – Days after the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction to halt the transfer of operations from the state-operated hospital system of Maui County to private contractor Kaiser Permanente, Maui Memorial Medical Center’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Ron Boyd, characterized the delay as an “unrealistic expectation.”

“Critical vendor and employment contracts are terminating, diagnostic equipment, supplies have all been adjusted to reflect a changeover. It is near impossible to simply reverse course; this will lead to drastic gaps in coverage with no capacity to fill. This delay is devastating to the forward momentum to offering better care to Maui County,” implored Dr. Boyd.

Agreeing with Dr. Boyd’s assessment, Wes Lo, Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) Maui Region’s Chief Executive Officer said, “with each day that goes by, the risk of not providing basic medical services to Maui County becomes actuality. We are already a system with reduced staff levels preparing for new leadership and operations. We are already a system that has divested critical operations in anticipation of new management. This injunction is a disservice to Maui County and our hands are tied with no recourse.”

Lo ended in saying, “we are working with the State to mitigate severe shortages in our services and staffing capacities. We are also working with the state to better understand the preliminary injunction. As service providers of the only acute care medical facility in Maui County, our goal has always been service to our community and even under these uncertain and difficult constraints it will remain our goal.“

About HHSC Maui Region

The Maui Region of HHSC serves over 11,000 inpatients and sees over 45,000 people in the emergency room each year. With over 1,500 employees, Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only full-service, acute-care medical facility in the County, and the only hospital outside of O‘ahu providing a full range of cardiac services, including open-heart surgery and angioplasty. For more information visit MauiMemorialMedical.org.