WAILUKU - A move to transfer the state's community hospitals, including Maui Memorial Medical Center, back into the hands of the Hawaii Department of Health was called "terrible public policy" by Maui state Sen. Roz Baker.
Baker, who represents West and South Maui residents, said the proposed legislation stemmed from an attempt by the Legislature to micromanage state hospitals.
"It does not represent any appreciable savings to the state, will probably cost more in the long run, and is taking our public hospitals and Maui Memorial in absolutely the wrong direction," Baker wrote in an e-mail last weekend to The Maui News.
Baker and Maui Sens. Shan Tsutsui and J. Kalani English were among legislators who drafted a proposal to enable Maui Memorial to negotiate a public-private partnership for the island's only acute-care hospital.
Maui Memorial Chief Executive Officer Wesley Lo announced in December his plans to find a nonprofit partner to bolster the hospital's finances and improve its overall delivery of health-care services.
With a nonprofit partner, Lo argued that the hospital would become less dependent on dwindling state funds yet more efficient as the island's primary medical facility.
But Lo needs legislation to advance such a partnership and has yet to get it.
Instead on Monday, the House Finance Committee passed a proposal to abolish the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which oversees state community hospitals, and return the facilities to the state Department of Health, which lost its authority over hospitals in 1996.
On Tuesday, freshman state Rep. Gil Keith-Agaran, who represents Kahului, Lower Paia and a portion of Wailuku, said that as a member of the Finance Committee, he voted in favor of the community hospital transfer. But he said a provision in another bill would allow for Maui Memorial to be exempted from such a transfer.
Lo received word from Keith-Agaran about the provision, but had not seen it in writing as of Tuesday afternoon.
"We will continue to monitor these bills, but we remain optimistic that Maui will become independent through this legislation, something we believe will be ideal for our vision and future plans," Lo said.
Dr. George Talbot, a former Maui Memorial chief of staff and currently the physician in charge for Kaiser Permanente on Maui, said he opposes placing the Valley Isle hospital under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Health.
"I think it's going backwards," Talbot said. "It's going to be hard to do things on the local level."
Talbot said he believes the state will end up spending more money returning the community hospitals to the state Department of Health from the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. than keeping the status quo.
Maui Memorial, through Lo, has been lobbying for more autonomy from the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. and was granted more flexibility last year through Act 290. The statute created new regional boards and charged them with overseeing finances and operations of state medical facilities in their regions.
The Maui region includes Maui Memorial, Lanai Community Hospital and Kula Hospital.
Dr. Peter Galpin said Maui hospitals were "terribly inefficient" when they operated under the state Department of Health. "It definitely had all the drawbacks of any large and complex government programs," he said.
Galpin, a surgeon, said delivering health care in hospitals requires day-to-day flexibility, and being attached with a state agency would impose restrictions on Maui Memorial's daily operations.
He said he supports negotiating a public-private partnership for Maui Memorial. "Let us go and let us seek our fortune," he said when asked what his his message would be to lawmakers and other state officials.
South Maui Rep. Joe Bertram III, a member of the House Health Committee, said he voted in favor of the community hospitals transfer to keep discussions open on making health care services, including those at Maui Memorial, more efficient.
He said he understood that the proposal to transfer community hospitals to the state Department of Health might include hiring a czar to oversee the hospitals and not necessarily have the agency operating them.
"It's still a work in progress," Bertram said.
Keith-Agaran said he would not support having Maui Memorial fall under the jurisdiction of the Health Department. "I'm looking more at what's best for the Maui region. It's important that Maui Memorial be successful."
* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine @mauinews.com.
