KAILUA-KONA, Hawai‘i Island — Gov. Josh Green promoted the signing of 13 bills aimed at improving health care access statewide during a press conference at Kealakehe Clinic in the Hawai‘i Island Community Health Center on Thursday afternoon.
“These bills are foundational. They absolutely support what we always said we believe, which is everyone has a right to health care,” he said in a speech.
Green signed just three of the 13 health-related bills during the event.
“Just so we didn’t make this a two hour ceremony,” he said.
The first bill, Senate Bill 671, removes fentanyl testing strips from the definition of drug paraphernalia in the uniform Controlled Substance Act, which Green said would help prevent fentanyl overdoses.
“If any one of us gets fentanyl put into some kind of substance that we’re taking, we could pass away. This saves lives,” he said.
Another bill, Senate Blll 404, updates the Hospital Sustainability Program Special Fund to support hospitals in continuing services to Medicaid recipients.
“We are raising insurance reimbursements for Medicaid to match Medicare across the state,” Green said. “This (program) is something we started 15 years ago, and now it’s permanent. And It’s really going to keep us all happy,” he added.
The third bill, Senate Bill 674, allows Hawai‘i to enter into the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (already in effect in 37 other states, the District of Columbia and Guam) to make it easier for out-of-state physicians to practice in Hawai‘i. The bill is an effort to address the state’s “severe workforce challenges,” Green said.
The other 10 health care bills signed prior to the event are: House Bill 907, Senate Bill 162, Senate Bill 473, Senate Bill 599, Senate Bill 602, Senate Bill 759, House Bill 660, House Bill 884, House Bill 1082 and House Bill 1369.
“We’re tackling the systemic problems. And that’s what you’re gonna see in this moment,” said Green before signing the first bill.
During his speech, Green stated Hawaii has a total of 4,000 health care vacancies. That includes 1,000 for nurses and 776 for physicians. He also noted the state has 1.9 hospital beds available per 1,000 people, which he compared with 2.4 hospital beds per 1,000 people nationally.
Green highlighted some of his administration’s other recent accomplishments meant to address these shortages, including $30 million in state funding over the next two years for the Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program.
The program, which comes with a $43 million match in federal funds, will provide licensed health care workers up to $50,000 per year against their student debts. The program is a major part of efforts to incentivize primary care providers, nurses, dentists, social workers and other health professional to work in understaffed areas of the state.
“We need people everywhere,” said Green, adding that the program will allow 700 health care workers to have their student loans forgiven.
“All those states that are doing terrible stuff to their providers, telling them they can’t provide women’s health care, women’s reproductive rights or abortion services … Come to Hawai‘i. Doors are open, come and work here at our facilities,” he said.
Green also touted $128 million in state funding for the improvement of local medical centers across the state, which includes $21 million for the Samuel Mahelona Hospital in Kapa‘a.
The legislation will create “real solutions that make Hawai‘i far and away the best health state and that is borne out of the data,” said Green, noting that the CDC ranked Hawai‘i as the healthiest state in the country this year. “We have the best outcomes in the country with the longest-lived people,” he added.
The Hawai‘i Island event was also a “homecoming” for Green, who explained he would have never moved to the state had he not accepted a physician job at a Hilo community health center 23 years ago.
“It really was what launched my life here. Led to all of the things I’m grateful for,” said Green, who was raised in Pennsylvania.
Green said he was tasked with 8,000 patients as a primary care physician in the area, which was also his “first adult job in health care.” The challenges he faced included a lack of access to behavioral health care and drug treatments, as well as difficulty referring patients. Those experiences are what ultimately led him into politics.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
