The Great Recession appears to have awoken a sleeping giant: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Honolulu.
Prior to 2010, Shriners Hospitals — which is based in Tampa, Fla., and operates 22 medical facilities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico — relied strictly on endowment. Unfortunately, the endowment dropped to $5 billion from $8 billion in less than a year during the recession. This prompted the hospital to begin billing insurance in an effort to make up a 20 percent budget shortfall, said John White, CEO of Shriners Hospital in Honolulu.
Shriners hospitals offer health services for infants and children through age 18 who have orthopedic problems that include bones, joints and muscles. They also treat patients with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities and brain injury. Fortunately, the hospitals still accept patients with or without health insurance and without regard to the ability to pay. Families can also make appointments with or without a physician referral.
In 2013 the Honolulu hospital recorded 8,000 outpatient visits and 550 surgeries.
The unexpected drop in the endowment value turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While it prompted new strategies to make up lost revenue, it also energized the Honolulu hospital’s relationship with the local community.
Mahealani Richardson, a high-profile former television anchor, is now director of public relations and physician liaison. Most recently the hospital also hired Angela Keen as physician relations officer. Keen, a former physician services manager at Straub, is another veteran television anchor and medical reporter.
Shriners has fought an uphill battle since 2010, according to Richardson. In addition to now billing insurance, the facility is working to re-brand itself. Until recently it has been regarded as a place where the underserved with developmental orthopedic problems could come for free care. Shriners public relations has been fighting to keep the hospital on top by increasing public awareness about additional services such as the morning walk-in Fracture Clinic for suspected fractures and sports injuries.
The Fracture Clinic is open from 7:30 to 9 a.m. weekdays. Patients who walk in after 9 a.m. are still accommodated as soon as possible. Fracture patients receive total fracture care including casting, X-rays, surgery and rehabilitation as appropriate. The hospital’s team of pediatric orthopedists also treats sports injuries such as tears of the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, one of the major ligaments of the knee.
This week it held its annual two-day Shriners Research ‘Aha (conference). The conference is primarily intended for orthopedic surgeons, pediatric neurologists, pediatricians, therapists and others to better care for children through an understanding of recent advances in science, research methodology, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Shriners is also the recipient of a $20,720 Hawaii Dental Service Foundation Grant for dental equipment and a dental cart to be used for its Dental Under Sedation program. It offers comprehensive dental services to improve outcomes for pediatric orthopedic surgery patients. In 2013 the hospital had zero spinal infections thanks in part to improved dental health of our patients.
Since the first Shriners Hospital for Children opened in 1922, the network has offered unimaginable benefits to many who would not otherwise have access to care. Shriners Honolulu could have contracted when the Great Recession hammered the parent organization’s endowment. Instead, the hospital found a way to become stronger and expand its services, to the benefit of many. Kudos to the leadership at Shriners and to Richardson and Keen, two pillars of our community who are experts at building relationships and making a difference.
Ira “Kawika” Zunin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is a practicing physician. He is medical director of Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global Advisory Services Inc. Please submit your questions to info@manakaiomalama.com.
