Wahiawa General Hospital will stop performing surgeries by end of May

Wahiawa General Hospital will stop doing surgeries by the end of this month.

The former plantation hospital made the decision to phase out its Surgical Services Unit through May as part of “ongoing efforts to create a more sustainable service line,” the company told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

“Our board and administration are constantly evaluating all of our lines of service to ensure we are balancing the needs of our communities with our fiscal responsibilities,” said CEO Brian Cunningham. “Over the past several years, our surgical services volumes have dropped to the point that this service is no longer financially sustainable for the hospital.”

The hospital did not disclose how many surgeries it typically does.

Closing the unit will allow the company to “focus more resources on its core services to secure the viability and sustainability of our hospital long into the future,” he added.

“During this transition all surgery patients will continue to receive the highest level of care, while future surgery patients from this area will be supported with identifying the best options for them to receive their surgical care needs,” Cunningham said.

Three years ago Wahiawa General officials warned that the hospital, which had about 600 full- and part-time workers, could shut down in six months without financial assistance from the state.

The struggling hospital appealed to the Legislature for $6 million over two years — or $3 million annually — to continue operations while officials worked to develop a sustainable business plan.

The company managed to avoid closure after contracting a management group out of Texas.

Over the years, however, it has closed OB-GYN services, home health and outpatient physical therapy services and transferred its more than 20-year residency program to Hawaii Pacific Health because it could no longer support the program.

In addition, the hospital reduced the equivalent of 75 full-time workers in recent years. Almost 85% of Wahiawa’s patients are on Medi­caid or Medicare, which reimburse the hospital at a much lower rate than private insurance.

Wahiawa General started in 1944 as an outpatient clinic for plantation workers, military personnel and other Central Oahu and North Shore residents. The hospital is now licensed for 160 beds — 53 acute-care and 107 skilled- nursing. The emergency room sees about 20,000 people per year.