Hawaii lawmakers have almost tripled the requested emergency appropriation needed to keep two publicly funded Kauai hospitals afloat till January.

The House Health and Finance committees, chaired by Della Au Belatti and Sylvia Luke, respectively, voted to up the stopgap funding from $2.5 million to $7.3 million. 

Reps. Marcus Oshiro, Dee Morikawa, Jimmy Tokioka, Gene Ward, Belatti and others on Monday grilled the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. acting President and CEO Alice Hall, HHSC Kauai Regional Board member Pat Gegen and Finance Director Kalbert Young.

The discussion centered on why it’s been OK for HHSC, a 12-facility community hospital system, to operate unsustainably year after year and then just ask the Legislature for emergency funding.

Oshiro wanted to know why the administration wasn’t asking for more money now since it is expecting to come back to the Legislature in January and ask for a $20 million emergency appropriation for the whole system.

Young said there has to be structural changes made in the system, but it could take years to formulate a plan. There’s not enough time in a special session, he said, to have that discussion so the administration is asking for an emergency appropriation.

“The current status of HHSC is not financially tolerable,” Young said.

Gegen acknowledged that HHSC waited too long to come to lawmakers for financial help this year for the Kauai hospitals.

Hall said federal reimbursements are part of the problem, including millions of dollars in cuts to Medicare alone.

“We’re just losing more and more money,” she said, noting $55 million lost over five years because of the Affordable Care Act.

Morikawa said there has to be better oversight in the future. Gegen assured her there would be and that some improvements have already been made.

Hall said the state should explore a public-private partnership as a possible solution.

Belatti said she didn’t understand how they could even have a conversation about fixing the system until the governor nominates people to fill six vacant seats on HHSC’s 13-member board. 

The Senate health and money committees will hear the measure at 1:30 p.m., Friday.

— Nathan Eagle

House lawmakers discuss emergency funding for HHSC, Oct. 28, 2013. (Nathan Eagle/Honolulu Civil Beat)