West Maui hospital plan
begins to form
LAHAINA >> Two Valley Isle organizations have selected a management firm to build a for-profit hospital in West Maui.
The West Maui Taxpayers Association and its affiliate, the West Maui Improvement Foundation, have picked Quorum Health Resources LLC. Selecting Quorum is the first step in a lengthy process.
The proposal is expected to be discussed at the association's annual meeting at 5:30 p.m. today at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Association President Joseph Pluta said the proposal comes at a time when Maui Memorial Medical Center in Central Maui has an insufficient number of beds to meet the needs of patients. Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa has asked the state to consider eventually replacing the 52-year-old complex.
Arakawa expects the replacement of Maui Memorial will cost $300 million.
Pluta said the proposal for a hospital in West Maui would be financed by investors at no expense to taxpayers.
"What we're proposing doesn't cost a dime," he said.
Under the proposal, the financing would be done by InnoVatic Capital LLC, a partnership that plans to use a mortgage insurance program established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The hospital would be built on 14.9 acres on the Kaanapali side of the Lahaina Civic Center, a parcel that has been set aside by Amfac Hawaii LLC as part of the Kaanapali 2020 development.
The hospital's estimated cost is from $35 million to $45 million and would include 50 acute-care beds, an emergency room and an imaging department.
Quorum, which manages about 200 hospitals in 43 states, worked as a consultant assisting in the development of the North Hawaii Community Hospital in Waimea on the Big Island, said Bruce Garlinghouse, Quorum's vice president of business development.
Association officials have said the hospital in West Maui would be similar to the North Hawaii Community Hospital.
Garlinghouse said that at today's meeting, officials will discuss plans to carry out the first of three phases in the development, including business and community discussions to refine the proposal for a hospital.
"We think there is a need," Garlinghouse said. "We believe there's an opportunity to create a unique environment."
West Maui residents have been critical about the lack of timely emergency care in the Lahaina-Kapalua region, where patients can take 45 minutes to more than an hour to be transported by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center.
A state emergency helicopter ambulance service is scheduled to begin operating in Maui County starting in July.
Pluta said while the service is necessary, it does not help solve the growing problem of emergency health care, especially if a large group of people are hurt in an accident in West Maui.
Pluta said West Maui has an average of about 50,000 people, including visitors, and accounts for 40 percent of the county's revenue.
West Maui hospital supporters will eventually have to obtain a certificate of need from the state Health Planning and Development Agency.