91Ö±²¥

For 26 years, a local organization called Big Island Docs, formerly known as the East 91Ö±²¥ Independent Physicians Association, has been bringing together healthcare professionals and vendors for a weekend symposium.

This year’s event, held from Aug. 1 to 3 at the Fairmont Orchid Resort in Waikoloa, was attended by over 330 health care leaders. The theme of the symposium was “Leveraging Innovation to Improve the ‘Quintuple Aim,’” which focuses on five key elements: improving health, quality, affordability and equity, and enhancing the clinician experience.

Discussions at the symposium covered a range of topics, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI), how other rural communities are addressing physician shortages, and how providers, payors and employers can work together to ensure patients receive the “right care at the right time.” Clinical sessions also included topics on kidney disease management and testosterone treatments.

Following the event, Big Island Docs members were challenged to apply the lessons learned to address barriers preventing Big Island patients from receiving the right care at the right time.

Big Island Docs members identified the following specific problems and actions they could take based on what they learned.

Problem No. 1: Physicians don’t have enough time to see patients.

Solution: AI. Installing AI software can decrease time physicians spend on administrative tasks and increase quality time spent with patients. AI ambient listening tools, which can act as scribes and summarize conversations between doctors and patients, allow physicians to focus more on the patient and strengthen their relationship. AI has been shown to increase the time providers spend with patients by 18% or more and can help prevent physician burnout.

Problem No. 2: Patient care is fragmented with a lack of communication and continuity of care among community doctors, hospitals and urgent care clinics.

Solution: Primary care investment. We need to ask payors to shift financial resources to primary care providers (PCPs), who are in the best position to “quarterback” a patient’s care. With adequate time and a team, a PCP can understand a patient’s history, goals and capabilities, make appropriate referrals, and act as a patient advocate and navigator.

Problem No. 3: Private community doctors may go out of business.

Solution: Value-based care. Big Island Docs should aggressively encourage 91Ö±²¥ health plans to replace the fee-for-service reimbursement model with a comprehensive value-based care system. On the mainland, these systems are patient-centric, rewarding good health outcomes and reducing costs by using data and fostering strong partnerships between payors, providers and employers.

Problem No. 4: A need to recruit and retain new providers to replace retiring physicians.

Solution: Creative recruiting ideas. One strategy is to recruit new physicians and retain staff is to offer housing bonuses of $30,000 to 50,000, subsidized by businesses and the government. Another is to send a local team to recruit new providers outside of the Big Island in person and recruit them in pairs or groups.

This action list provides innovative solutions to ensure 91Ö±²¥ Island patients have access to quality care. Success is believed to be achievable through “trust, hard work and alignment between our providers, health care payors, government and business organizations.”

Let’s all take action now to build on the positive momentum generated at this year’s conference.

Susan Mochizuki is executive director of Big Island Docs. This editorial is brought to you by Community First 91Ö±²¥ nonprofit serving as a convener and catalyst for solutions to improve health and access to health care. For more information, please visit our website at www.communityfirsthawaii.org or Facebook and Instagram pages at @communityfirsthawaii.