Hawaiʻi doctor shortage propels UH to seek medical school expansion

After 35 years Dr. Inouye's scaled back and can only care for a certain number of patients.

Link to video and sound (details below): https://bit.ly/38LRLQn

WHAT: Proposal to expand the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) to Maui to help tackle the state’s worsening physician shortage. 

WHY:  Hawaiʻi is short approximately 820 physicians. Shortages are most severe on the neighbor islands. Maui County is in need of 153 doctors.    

WHO: Maui OBGYN, Colleen Inouye is concerned about the severe impact the state’s doctor shortage is having on her community. Some patients on the Valley Isle are forced to wait up to six months for an appointment or opt to postpone treatment. 

HOW: UH is asking state lawmakers to consider a $1.4-million expansion of JABSOM to the Valley Isle with hopes of retaining more medical students and increasing the number of local doctors. Research shows more than 80 percent of doctors who attend medical school and train in-state end up practicing there too. 

WHEN:  If funding is approved, recruitment for a Maui-based teaching hub could begin in the next academic year. If funding is approved in 2020, the first class could start in July 2021.

OTHER FACTS:

•  Currently, JABSOM accepts 77 students per year at its Kakaʻako location. 

• According to JABSOM’s 2019 Hawaiʻi Physician Workforce Assessment Project Report:   

  • 152 doctors moved away from Hawaiʻi 

  • Hawaiʻi had a net gain of 47 doctors overall in 2019

  • 50 percent of Hawai‘i’s doctors are at least 55-years-old

• On a busy day, Inouye treats up to 25 patients. About 2,000 fill the database of her practice in Kahului. Some clients fly in from Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi because there is no OB-GYN on their island. 

• Inouye interviews aspiring medical students on the Valley Isle during their JABSOM application process, a majority say they want to practice on island. 

• The proposed JABSOM expansion is part of UHealthy Hawaiʻi, the university’s initiative that offers potential solutions to Hawaiʻi’s health workforce shortages. 

• Efforts are also underway to align UH’s health programs with the needs of Hawaiʻi’s health industry, such as in the area of physical therapy, which is in high demand in the state. 

VIDEO B-ROLL (1:20)

• 5 shots: Colleen Inouye with patients

• 1 shot: Maui Memorial Hospital 

• 1 shot: Maui landmark ʻĪao Valley

• 8 shots: JABSOM medical students at Kapiʻolani Women’s and Children’s Medical Center

• 1 shot: Exterior shot of JABSOM Kakaʻako 

SOUNDBITES : 

Colleen Inouye - Maui OBGYN (11 seconds) ***pertaining to patients that delay treatment due to doctor shortage

They wait until their situation becomes very severe and by that time of course they’ll have a different diagnosis and probably a worse diagnosis if they had sought care earlier in their situation.

Colleen Inouye - Maui OBGYN (14 seconds) ***reasons why medical students will practice in same location they went to school and trained in

They really want to feel like they’re a part of the community and that they’re helping the patients there. If you start off as a medical student you have that opportunity and so they’ll go ahead and have a feeling of obligation and duty to those members of the community.