A state House budget bill includes $8.9 million for Hilo Medical Center capital improvement projects.
“We requested these funds and are quite pleased to have them allocated in the budget,” Hawaii Health Systems Corp. East Hawaii Regional CEO Dan Brinkman said in a written statement. “We hope they will be available at the end of the legislative session. Our hospital, which was built in 1985, will utilize the funds to repair facilities and renovate patient-care areas.”
The hospital requested the money listed in HB 100 for several “relatively small” projects.
Included among them are an upgrade to the hospital’s fire suppression and fire alarm system, an upgrade of its ultrasound service and replacement of aging fixtures.
Brinkman said HMC also plans to renovate “our space so we can use it for our clinic instead of leasing space outside the hospital.”
The top priority, Brinkman said, will be patient safety. Second priority will be proactive repairs, such as leaky bathroom fixtures that could do further damage to tiling or to another floor.
The hospital is unlikely to get funding for a major new structure.
Plus, Brinkman said, “if we do our job well here in East Hawaii, we will keep more and more of our care outpatient.”
A top hospital priority is increasing medical services for the Puna District, where the population is growing rapidly.
It’s a delicate balancing act because “the hospital, right now, we’re mostly full most days,” Brinkman said.
HMC’s goal is to keep patients well enough to stay out of the hospital, he said. That’s why he wants to maintain, upgrade and assess future needs rather than expand the facility.
The effort seems to have worked, so far, Brinkman said. Even though population increased, inpatient census stayed relatively stable.
“We’re watching to see if indeed that trend stays the same where we don’t necessarily need more beds,” he said. “But, instead, we need more outpatient clinics. We’re watching to see which direction we should go and, actually, it’s a bit of an art.”
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
