The board for Honolulu-based Hawaii Health Systems Corp.'s Maui Region has approved a $28 million cut to the region, which includes three Hawaii hospitals: Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku, Lanai Community Hospital in Lanai City and Kula Hospital, according to The Maui News.
The cut, which is for fiscal year 2016 that begins in July, represents about 10 percent of the region's budget and will require Maui Memorial Medical Center — Maui's only full-service hospital — to look at eliminating services that aren't directly related to patient care, such as the valet service at the entrance and public food service, according to the report. It also requires the medical center to consider cuts to major services such as oncology, cardiology and obstetrics and gynecology.
Wes Lo, Maui region CEO of the quasi-government Hawaii Health Systems Corp., has indicated that the hospital is looking at possibly cutting nonclinical and nonessential contracts such as patient support services and administrators who are not directly involved in patient care, according to the report. The report notes that the cuts also involve senior leadership.
Mr. Lo said in the report that these initial cuts are projected to reduce the budget by about $4 million. That represents 50 to 75 positions out of the 1,500 employees at Maui Memorial, according to the report.
The report notes that cuts may affect current services at all three of the region's hospitals.
"We are limited by the options that we have before us," said Richard Clay Sutherland, chairman of the Maui Region board, according to the report. "We knew this day was going to happen, and while we understand the state cannot continue to fund our financial shortfalls, for three years we have asked the legislature to allow us to move forward on a public-private partnership so we could avoid this very day."
According to the report, the legislature continues to consider a bill that would permit a public-private partnership for Maui Memorial. Honolulu-based Hawaii Pacific Health is a potential partner for Maui Memorial. Mr. Lo said in the report that the Maui region will "re-evaluate" the financial situation if the public-private partnership does make it through the legislature.
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