Non‑Discrimination Policy
Physicians Needed
Posted September 07, 2015
Age is the single most important factor in understanding health status and the need and demand for health care resources. According to the US Census Bureau, Hawaii’s elderly population, aged 65 and older, is growing faster than the national growth rate. Health Trends in Hawaii reports the projection that by 2030, the elderly population will represent 20 percent of the populations for each county, the state, and the nation as a whole; that is, one out of every five individuals will be aged 65 or older. In comparison, in 1970, one out of every 17 individuals was aged 65 or older.
Our aging population is a growing concern. However, another increasing and alarming concern is the physician shortage in our state, which is especially felt on the neighbor islands. The John A. Burns School of Medicine Physician Workforce Assessment shows a statewide shortage of 890 full-time doctors—a shortage estimated to grow to 1,500 within five years. It’s important to note that one-third of the physicians practicing in Hawaii right now are aged 60 or over.
Now that you have a broader sense of this dire situation, you may wonder how this affects Hale Makua? Federal and State rules require every person be admitted by and attended to throughout their stay in our nursing homes by a primary care physician. Without enough physicians in the community able and willing to do this, Hale Makua Health Services was left with no choice but to find a physician for 160 plus residents. If not, admissions from the hospital and the community to Hale Makua would stop because there was no admitting physician.
Unfortunately, finding a physician to take on this size patient caseload is a daunting task. In 2011, we initially contracted with Kaiser Permanente for physician services and then some community physicians until 2013. Since then we’ve been forced to contract with temporary physician staffing companies on the mainland. The annual cost to provide physician services has been over $400,000 a year. In addition to a physician’s salary it includes mainland airfare, housing and transportation.
The need for physicians will only increase as our elderly population and demands for elder care rapidly grows. Government funding for elder care, year after year, becomes increasingly strained as the cost of healthcare rises. Your generosity and support has helped provide physician services in the past, currently, and we hope in the future. Our staff is constantly seeking ways to address our physician shortage and is committed to finding long-term solutions.