It is with mixed emotions that Dr. Hayato Mori, chief of surgery at Wilcox Memorial Hospital and chair of the Orthopedic Department at Kauai Medical Clinic, has announced he will step down from both positions next month. “I received an
It is with mixed emotions that Dr. Hayato Mori, chief of surgery at Wilcox Memorial Hospital and chair of the Orthopedic Department at Kauai Medical Clinic, has announced he will step down from both positions next month.
“I received an invitation from Dr. Stephen Kaneshiro at Kuakini Hospital to join his practice while I was in Indonesia,” said Mori.
Mori and Kaneshiro earlier this year were both doing humanitarian work in the aftermath of last year’s deadly tsunami.
“By accepting his offer, I will be joining a practice with significantly lower operational cost. I will be going from taking 10 days each month of probono-call coverage at Wilcox (the Queen’s orthopedic surgeons get paid for taking call but orthopedic surgeons at Wilcox are not reimbursed for providing call coverage) to no ER (emergency-room) call at Kuakini,” said Mori.
“It is sad that I feel the need to move on. The physicians who work for Kauai Medical Clinic are my colleagues. They are my friends,” he said.
“They are wonderful, caring, and excellent clinicians. And this is coming from a guy who has trained at high-caliber medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic and the University of Florida,” he said.
He will continue to live on Kaua‘i, and commute to Kuakini on O‘ahu.
He will formally terminate his relationship with Kauai Medical Clinic as of Friday, June 24, but maintain his privileges at Wilcox Memorial Hospital, he said.
“I will be ending my four-year tenure as chief of surgery at Wilcox Hospital, since I will not be on Kaua‘i full time. Obviously, by default, I will no longer be the chairman of the Orthopedic Department at Kauai Medical Clinic,” he said.
Hawaii Pacific Health is the umbrella corporation whose leaders own and operate Wilcox Health (Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kauai Medical Clinic).
Mori explained that the hierarchy within Hawaii Pacific Health, Wilcox Health, and the hospital and clinic, is very complex.
“There are physicians such as myself who actually are employees of Kauai Medical Clinic, which functions independently of Wilcox Memorial Hospital, but under the same umbrella corporation of Hawaii Pacific Health. That means that KMC has a separate board, separate executive committee, but some of the leadership may overlap,” he explained.
“For instance, Dr. (Lee) Evslin (Wilcox Health president and chief executive officer) is ultimately responsible for both Wilcox Hospital and KMC. Dr. (Kenneth) Pierce, the current chief medical officer for KMC, has no leadership role within the Wilcox organization,” Mori explained.
“The reasons for why KMC physicians leave the island or change jobs may be completely different than independent physicians in the community leaving the islands,” Mori added. Mori said he thinks it is important to note that, “under my leadership, Wilcox has consistently had three to four orthopedic surgeons providing on-call coverage, versus Queen’s with only two orthopedic surgeons.”
- Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
