News

HGEA has advocated for a local solution to the challenges facing its public hospital system, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation (HHSC). The local providers we contacted were willing to participate in that discussion.
 
With the urging of HGEA, the Governor's Office recently coordinated a meeting of local stakeholders including healthcare providers and insurers. On April 2, representatives from the Governor's Office, HHSC, Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Pacific Health, Kaiser, HMSA, HGEA and UPW attended this meeting.


There was general consensus that the concerns expressed by HGEA regarding the proposed outsourcing of the hospitals were echoed by the different groups. In addition, there was agreement that HHSC must operate more as a system and not as regions, otherwise the system would not be sustainable. Questionable management decisions made by HHSC over the years have been major contributors to the challenges it faces today. The challenges are further complicated by geography, access and politics.


We believe that local partners making decisions about our healthcare needs and priorities in our state is in the best interest of our local community. We should not give this power to out-of-state providers who have no roots or commitment to Hawaii.


Finding a solution will not be an easy one. There needs to be tough decisions made about the level of care being provided in every community as well as the role of private providers. And community input is imperative to determining the best solution.


The state administration will be determining the next steps, and a meeting with this group will most likely reconvene after the legislative session.
 
Currently in the legislature there are only two bills alive that would impact HHSC — one would address the composition of the HHSC board and the other would create a task force to study the issue (neither bill would allow for outsourcing).


We will continue to keep you updated on any progress or new developments.