Hawaiʻi Healthcare Task Force
A clinician-led Hawaiʻi coalition working on primary care investment, network adequacy, prior authorization, and Neighbor Island access, with every claim sourced and every correction logged in public.
Latest articles
- One Health Hawaiʻi: What the Evidence Shows and What the Applicants Must Prove — The evidence on hospital-physician integration points to higher costs and inconsistent quality gains. Hawaiʻi should not approve common control between HMSA and HPH without proof of a public benefit.
- Hawaiʻi’s Longevity Is Predictable: Why Population Health Should Not Be Mistaken for Healthcare Performance — Hawaiʻi Life Expectancy and Healthcare Rankings | Task Force Report { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Report", "headline": "Hawaiʻi’s Longevity Is Predictable", "alternativeHeadline": "Why
- Buckle Up — Medicaid is changing. New rural health money is arriving on a clock. The state already says the Big Island blew them away. Four things every clinician can do now, and why this island should lead.
- Twenty-Five Years, Then Laser-Focused — People tried for 25 years to stop Hawaiʻi from taxing doctors for Medicare and Medicaid care. It passed when we got narrow, got together, and stayed visible. Here is the method.
- You're Not Alone This Time — When a storm hit Kaʻū, doctors whose own practices were struggling organized care within days. Local doctors, local aunties, and a county partnership. The people with the least to spare showed up.
- They Know What They Lack — On Oʻahu, we read the state's numbers and move on. On Hawaiʻi Island, people pick up the list and start calling names. 783 listings, 194 practicing clinicians, and an island that checks its own count.
- Resources That Don't Go Together — A Hilo radiologist asked for breast cancer data on July 12. He had it on the 14th. By September, an independent practice and the public hospital had a tentative plan to keep screening in East Hawaiʻi.
- What One Health Hawaiʻi Has Not Yet Shown — Most of One Health Hawaiʻi’s promised benefits do not require integration. Before approval, HMSA and HPH should show what common governance uniquely adds and how it will expand care.
- Hawaiʻi Island Has Enough Mammography Machines. What It Does Not Have Is a Way to Reach Them. — Hawaiʻi Island has more certified mammography facilities per resident than Oʻahu. Counting those open to the public, it has about 25 times fewer per square mile. Five facilities, three towns, 4,028 square miles. The sho…
- Invisible Twice: The Behavioral Health Network Hawaiʻi Never Measured — The State's own quality review excluded seriously mentally ill patients from its network calculations. We measured what was never counted: the beds, the clinicians, and the arithmetic underneath Hawaiʻi's homelessness c…
- One Health Hawaiʻi and the Medical Loss Ratio Question — One Health Hawaiʻi should be reviewed by economic substance, not label, because HMSA’s MLR treatment may show whether insurer-provider payments remain independent or stay inside one enterprise.
- Trust Is Not Evidence | One Health Hawaiʻi, HMSA, HPH, and the Burden of Proof — Trust is not evidence. One Health Hawaiʻi’s backers should prove, with independent evidence, that consolidation will help patients instead of raising costs.
Reports
- Prior Authorization Is Not a Clinical Tool — Prior authorization functions as a cost-containment lever, not a clinical safety mechanism. The evidence base from Hawaiʻi providers.
- The Directory Is Lying to You — Hawaiʻi payer directories contain inaccurate, outdated, and ghost provider listings. Patients cannot rely on the published network. Evidence and policy recommendations.
- Physician Workforce Collapse in Hawaiʻi: Structural Causes and Policy Remedies — Hawaiʻi has 12,688 licensed physicians but only 3,647 in patient care, an 833 FTE shortfall when geography counts. Five structural reforms the Legislature can act on.
- After Payment Transformation: The Fee-for-Service and Capitation Crossroads — Hawaiʻi providers face a mandatory transition, since extended to January 2027, from payment transformation to fee-for-service. Both reimbursement models are severely underfunded in Hawaiʻi.
Upcoming and recent events
- Primary Care Spending Target — Provider Working Session — Saturday 12 September 2026, 4:00–4:40 PM HST, Room 314, JABSOM. How much of Hawaiʻi's health care dollar must reach primary care — and how the law makes it real.
- Access, Capacity, and Patient Safety — a statewide conversation on strengthening healthcare for all — Friday 18 September 2026, 9:30–11:00 AM HST, Asia Room, Hawaiʻi Imin International Conference Center, Honolulu. A ninety-minute session on what Hawaiʻi's healthcare capacity actually is, island by island, and what it means for patient safety.