Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) officials said they have no plans to divest themselves of the Kauai Medical Clinic (KMC), as has been speculated. HPH is the parent organization of Wilcox Health, which is comprised of Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kauai
Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) officials said they have no plans to divest themselves of the Kauai Medical Clinic (KMC), as has been speculated.
HPH is the parent organization of Wilcox Health, which is comprised of Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kauai Medical Clinic (KMC).
According to information provided by HPH leaders through Wilcox Health Public Information Officer Lain Yukimura, HPH leaders commented, “As we have said in our letters to employees and in many forums with members of the community, Hawaii Pacific Health is committed to both meeting the health-care needs of the people of Kaua’i and its merger with Wilcox Memorial Hospital and KMC.
“Hawaii Pacific Health has absolutely no interest in a break up of that merger, and is, in fact, committed to seeing that a plan of success be developed for the hospital, clinic and Kaua’i community,” the HPH spokesperson said.
There had been speculation, spreading even to the ranks of Kauai Medical Clinic doctors and other professional staff, that HPH leaders planned on either closing or trying to sell primary-care operations, including the clinic network with offices from Kilauea to ‘Ele’ele, due to financial losses incurring at those operations. HPH leaders denied even thinking about those options.
HPH leaders also would neither confirm nor deny that Dr. Lee A. “Bill” Evslin, former president and chief executive officer of Wilcox Health and an executive vice president of HPH, was told early last Tuesday morning that he must move out of his office at Wilcox Health before noon that day, the day his resignation from that leadership position was formally announced.
Some Wilcox Health employees said last week they were disappointed in the reportedly shabby way in which Evslin, a 27-year-veteran and mainstay of the organization and health-care community, had been summarily dispatched.
A pediatrician, he had been in that management position since January 2003.
“As a matter of policy, we don’t disclose or comment on confidential, personnel matters,” the HPH official said. “However, as a general statement, we can share that in the case of voluntary resignations such as this, specific details are mutually agreed to by both parties.”
Evslin resigned from his positions with HPH due to irreconcilable differences with HPH management, he said in a letter to Wilcox Health personnel dated Tuesday, Sept. 6.
Chief among Evslin’s concerns was the amount of money charged by HPH leaders for Wilcox Health to be part of the HPH system, he said in his letter of resignation.
HPH leaders responded to a question concerning low morale at Wilcox health due to Evslin’s departure with this comment: “After 27 years with an organization, it is natural to see some sadness in saying ‘goodbye’ to a colleague who has decided to leave, but even so, nurses, staff and physicians continue their work in providing outstanding patient care.”
HPH leaders said they would not be looking for a replacement chief executive officer, and are in fact comfortable with having Registered Nurse Kathy Clark as chief operating officer and executive in charge of Wilcox Memorial Hospital, and Dr. Ken Pierce as chief medical officer and the executive in charge of KMC.
“Clark and Dr. Pierce are two experienced, local executives, who work effectively with the broader HPH executive team, and who also have available to them all the resources and support of HPH’s four-hospital system.
“On Kaua’i, Clark and Dr. Pierce are also working with many of their health-care colleagues, as well as with local community leaders and volunteers. Therefore, at the present time, there is no plan to recruit an additional senior executive,” said HPH officials.
Clark has a master’s degree in business administration.
“Pierce is a board-certified, emergency-room physician with 16 years of experience in patient care, the past 10 of which have been here on Kaua’i in the hospital’s emergency room,” the HPH spokesperson said.
“Pierce also has a long track record of significant and extensive experience in health-care leadership,” the HPH spokes-person added. “Among other things, this experience includes having served as the head of various hospital and clinic departments, his present appointments on the Wilcox and HPH boards of directors, and holding a number of medical-management degrees from accredited, advance-degree institutions in the U.S.”
