The parent company of the Queen’s Medical Center might purchase and reopen Hawaii Medical Center-West, which was the only acute-care hospital in Leeward Oahu until its closure last year.
The Ewa facility and its emergency room abruptly shut down in December, creating an immediate strain on Oahu’s emergency medical services as ambulances were diverted, overloading other hospitals.
Queen’s Health Systems officials announced Friday an agreement with St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii that will enable Queen’s to explore the feasibility of reopening the hospital.
"The reason for the urgency on the West campus is because of the community need," said Joy Yadao, St. Francis director of advocacy and business development. "It’s really hard to get emergency care. We’re very concerned about the emergency rooms islandwide, and people are getting burnt out."
The Ewa hospital, formerly known as St. Francis-West, and Hawaii Medical Center-East in Liliha, which closed in January, are returning to St. Francis as part of a lengthy and contentious bankruptcy of the hospitals’ owner, Hawaii Medical Center.
The closure of the hospitals displaced the most vulnerable long-term chronic disease patients, halted lifesaving transplants and resulted in layoffs of nearly 1,000 workers.
The agreement to begin negotiations is only a "first step in a lengthy process," and it is too early to tell when the Ewa hospital might reopen, said Cedric Yamanaka, a Queen’s spokesman.
Art Ushijima, president of Queen’s Medical Center, said in a statement, "While we are excited about the possibility of reopening the hospital, it is important to underscore that this is only the first of many steps before a smooth, timely ownership transfer and reopening can be accomplished."
Over 90 days, Queen’s will assess whether the Ewa facility "fits their operational structure," according to George Greene, president and CEO of Healthcare Association of Hawaii.
"I’m guessing that it would be at least six months to a year before we could expect that the emergency room would reopen," said Bruce Anderson, president and CEO of the state’s community hospital system Hawaii Health Systems Corp. "There would be a large advantage to being able to reopen the ER even if it took longer to open the rest of the facility. It’s caused a huge problem for the emergency medical services staff here. It has put a lot of strain on the system, so the sooner the better."
In bankruptcy filings a financial adviser for HMC last year estimated the value of the buildings and leasehold interest for the Ewa campus at roughly $28 million.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, spokeswoman for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, said the state stands ready to expedite the regulatory process should a deal come to fruition.
However, St. Francis maintains that a buyer would have to abide by Catholic ethical and religious directives, including prohibiting abortions and assisted suicide, as well as agree to provide indigent care — a requirement that ultimately led to the demise of the hospitals, which serviced primarily low-income patients covered by the state’s low-reimbursing Medicaid health insurance program.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Health Systems Corp. won legislative approval this month to purchase the Liliha campus, though there haven’t been any discussions with St. Francis and no funds were appropriated in the measure.
The Legislature also approved an $80 million special-purpose revenue bond for the Roman Catholic religious order to use for assisted-living, hospice, outpatient services and adult day care at the Liliha campus. The original bill earmarked $17.5 million of the revenue bond for upgrades at the West Oahu campus.
"We may or may not use it," said Yadao, the St. Francis director. "We don’t know what we’re actually going to do with it."
HMC — a joint venture between Hawaii Physician Group, comprised of 130 local doctors, and Kansas-based Cardiovascular Hospitals of America — purchased the Ewa and Liliha hospitals from St. Francis for $68 million in 2007. The Franciscan sisters provided the bulk of the financing for the sale, $40.2 million.
HMC first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2008. It emerged in August 2010 and became a nonprofit organization before filing its second bankruptcy last June. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris this week approved the assets’ return to St. Francis.
During the most recent bankruptcy, Hawaii Pacific Health made public its desire to add the Ewa facility to its portfolio of hospitals, which includes Pali Momi Medical Center, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children and Straub Clinic & Hospital. But it never got a chance to negotiate with St. Francis.
"We were respecting the bankruptcy process, and we were told there couldn’t be any conversations until the judge issued his written order and the title of the property was actually passed back," said Chuck Sted, HPH president and CEO. "We were very clear and very public about our interest. Just like St. Francis and Queen’s, we’re mission-based, and we wanted to make sure people on the West side of Oahu have access to great health care. We’re just as happy if that need is going to be met in a different way."
