Ask the Mayor: Who Will Determine the Future of Maui’s Hospitals?

Maui Memorial Medical Center, courtesy photo.

Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the most-asked questions submitted to his office staff.

Aloha Mayor,

Q: My ‘ohana of 52 members held a discussion and a family vote about the future of our Maui hospitals, and for a variety of reasons, we decided that we are strongly opposed to one of the entities seeking to take over our hospitals. Our question is, who has the final say in the decision, and how can our voices be heard?

A: Gov. David Ige recently signed into law legislation that opened the door for discussions on Maui’s state-owned hospitals entering into a public-private partnership; the partnership will need to be approved by the governor, the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. and the Maui Memorial Medical Center’s board of directors.

Terms and conditions of the partnership are expected to be worked out by the end of the year and the new managing partner could begin operations as early as 2016. Hospital administrators have conducted several meetings leading up to this point, and although input from the community is always welcome, they are not formally requesting testimony during this phase of the process.

At this point, much of the analysis required is administrative, with an in-depth look into each entity. Wes Lo, HHSC Maui Region CEO, said that they will “certainly use the testimony received in past town halls, both internal and external to guide our decision making and work towards making the best decision to meet the needs of our community as a whole.”

You are welcome to submit comments via email.

Want to Ask the Mayor?

Submit your questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa via email, by phone at 270-7855 or by mail to 200 S. High St., 9th Floor, Wailuku, HI 96793. Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the Ask the Mayor column.