The University of Hawaii medical school moved its family medicine residency program on July 1 to Pali Momi Medical Center after a lengthy battle with Wahiawa General Hospital.
The program for residents in training who treat patients under the supervision of the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine faculty was sponsored by the Wahiawa hospital for more than 20 years.
UH and Wahiawa General got into a dispute two years ago over about $1 million that each claimed the other owed for services and a legal settlement. Pali Momi is part of Hawaii Pacific Health, also the parent company of Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Straub Clinic & Hospital and Wilcox Health on Kauai.
“We compromised on the dispute in the interest of saving the program,” said Don Olden, Wahiawa General’s chief executive officer. “We didn’t pay them; they didn’t pay us. Hawaii Pacific Health stepped up and they’re funding the program going forward. In my mind, Hawaii Pacific Health was the savior of the program.”
The Wahiawa hospital spent $2 million annually to run the residency program for more than 20 years, with some funding from Medicare, Olden said.
“But there’s always shortfalls,” he said. “Wahiawa couldn’t continue funding it. We kept trying to get additional support for it, but we couldn’t.”
The struggling former plantation hospital appealed to the Legislature this year for $3 million annually to continue its own operations.
As part of the compromise, Wahiawa General donated its Mililani outpatient clinic to the University Clinical, Education & Research Associates, or UCERA, a nonprofit organization that was established largely to provide billing and other administrative services for UH physicians.
“This is the first time in the 26 years that Pali Momi’s been around that they’re having residents,” said UH medical school spokeswoman Tina Shelton. “It’s a more stable environment, needless to say, with HPH having a network of four hospitals to choose from.”
The residency program was established in 1994 to train doctors who practice in underserved communities in Hawaii and the Pacific Basin.
“We have new young blood, enthusiastic students participating in our patient care. It’s something new for us,” said Dr. James Kakuda, Pali Momi’s chief medical officer. “As we train and get to know these residents, we hope they will stay here in Hawaii.”
