HILO — East Hawaii administrators for Hawaii Health Systems Corp. say they are continuing to review changes to their long-term care services following a public grilling last week by state Rep. Richard Onishi, D-Hilo.
During a joint informational briefing for the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Finance on Thursday, Onishi questioned HHSC East Hawaii Regional CEO Dan Brinkman about recent cuts in long-term care offerings and the need to send patients to facilities in Ka‘u and Hamakua, thereby increasing the burden on families wanting to visit loved ones.
Administrators announced in the fall they would be reducing staff for 90 long-term care beds to levels needed to maintain 70 beds, among other cost-saving measures, to meet a predicted budget shortfall.
“Since then, you’ve now reduced it to 52,” Onishi said to Brinkman at Thursday’s meeting.
The CEO explained that the hospital system continues to maintain staffing levels for 70 beds, “but by changing our admissions process, meaning that we encourage people to go elsewhere if they can afford to and we only take people when they have nowhere else to go, which is part of our mission, what we found is our census has gradually decreased to 52,” he said.
Brinkman said that sending those patients to alternative providers is an important part of the hospital system’s cost-saving measures because “even if they pay, we still lose significant dollars on every one of those residents because of the age of the facility, and our reimbursement levels don’t cover the cost of providing that service.”
“But again, and I want to emphasize,” he continued, “if a resident or a patient does not have the means, and the private facilities won’t willingly take them, we admit them every single time.”
Onishi took issue with that statement, however.
“Well, that’s not what the public is telling me,” he said. “You guys are first telling them they need to either go to a private facility or go to (Hale Hoola Hamakua in Honokaa). You guys are looking to house them that far away from their families because of the efficiency for your hospital, which we help to subsidize for some of those beds.”
Late Friday afternoon, hospital administrators issued a written statement in response to Onishi’s concerns, saying that they continue to monitor and review the need for extended care beds in East Hawaii.
“We are looking at how we can best serve patients living in our Extended Care Facility,” the statement quotes Brinkman as saying.