HONOLULU —Dr. Genia Taitano, a surgeon at Kona’s Alii Health Center and trauma medical director at Kona Community Hospital, continues to pay down over $350,000 in student loans, but the remaining debt will soon be wiped out in the state’s effort to keep her and other health care workers in Hawai‘i.
Gov. Josh Green’s office has announced the second round of applications for scholarship relief beginning July 1 to the next group of health care workers, following the first group that included Taitano and nearly 500 other recipients.
Green, in partnership with the University of Hawai‘i’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Healthcare Association of Hawai‘i and the state Department of Health, developed the Healthcare Education Loan Repayment Program (HELP) to pay off up to $50,000 for each of two years as long as health care providers commit to accepting public insurance for at least 30 percent of their patient care claims.
As a medical doctor, Green disclosed in December 2023 that he had been “ticking away at that debt for 30 years,” but declared, “I’m debt-free today.”
Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a text on Wednesday that parents and relatives of young health care providers frequently express to him that the HELP program empowers their children to remain in Hawaii and care for local patients.
“I’d say it has happened 30 or more times,” Green said. “So the HELP program ends up keeping providers here and keeps families together. This effect will grow exponentially as we’re able to award more HELP recipients.”
HELP was launched in September to offer debt relief for educational loans incurred by licensed and certified health care professionals in Hawai‘i.
The program receives $30 million from the state Legislature, an additional $5 million over two years from Hawai‘i Island philanthropists Marc and Lynne Benioff and nearly $1 million annually in federal funding. The Hawai‘i Dental Service also funded $300,000 for dentists.
Health care professionals can get up to $50,000 a year of debt relief for each of the two years they commit to working in the islands.
Taitano will receive the maximum of $50,000 a year.
“Now with the assistance from HELP, it’s still sort of an uphill battle,” she said. “But the ability to potentially pay that off … through public service loan forgiveness is more feasible.”
Since the program began, 1,900 health professionals applied and 1,801 were declared eligible. HELP supports 500 recipients, with an additional 350 undergoing processing.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology from UH, Taitano graduated from JABSOM in 2016. She then completed seven years of general surgery training, a surgical critical care fellowship and a colorectal fellowship on the mainland — California and Ohio — before commencing her career at Alii Health Center six months ago.
“My debt was significant for medical school, and then interest accumulated during my training,” Taitano said. “I made what little payments I could.”
In announcing the second round of applications on Wednesday, Green said the state and Hawai‘i/Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center, known as AHEC, have received a “tremendous response to the aggressive and far-reaching loan repayment program” that helps to alleviates the state’s increasing shortage of physicians and other health care professionals who often leave for more affordable states.
Taitano said she sees a significant shortage of providers of all kinds in Hawai‘i and attributes the issue to the islands’ geographic isolation and the high cost of living.
“I’ve had classmates who told me that they couldn’t come back to Hawai‘i because the cost of living was too much and essentially their paycheck wasn’t going to help them pay off their debts,” she said.
The typical health care professional in Hawai‘i carries an average student debt of $250,000, according to AHEC director Dr. Kelley Withy, who is based at JABSOM.
There are over 12,000 licensed physicians across the state, Withy said, but only 3,599 provide patient care. And not all practicing physicians work full-time, so they collectively offer about the full-time equivalent of only 3,022 physicians.
Last year, the state faced a physician shortage totaling 757: 318 on O‘ahu, 206 on Hawai‘i Island, 181 on Maui and 52 on Kaua‘i.
The state usually loses about 100 doctors annually who move away, retire or die, and gains about 100 doctors, ultimately resulting in no increase, Withy said.
So, if the state can recruit 200 doctors each year, including by offering debt forgiveness, Hawai‘i’s perennial physician shortage could be eliminated as early as 2030, she said.
“The idea behind the loan repayment is — if you owe a quarter million and you can’t buy a house, why would you want to stay in Hawai‘i?” Withy said. “We’re gonna pay off that quarter- million, so you can buy a house and stay in Hawai‘i.”
Taitano would “love to own a house, but it’s almost impossible in Hawai‘i because it’s so expensive.”
With the HELP program helping to pay off her educational loans, Taitano now sees the possibility of home ownership.
All health care professionals with Hawaii ties — regardless if they studied out-of-state — are eligible as long as they serve in Hawaii for two years.
The eligible amounts vary depending on health care specialties, where they practice in Hawai‘i and the size of their debt.
The HELP program gives priority to specialists in primary care and behavioral health, as well as those practicing in rural areas, including Waimanalo, Waianae, Wahiawa, Hau‘ula, Laie, Kahuku, Haleiwa and Waialua on O‘ahu.
For Taitano in particular, HELP classifies Kona as a rural “critical access” area because of its limited resources.
“For a surgeon, who, like myself, is practicing in a rural area, HELP is one of the only loan forgiveness programs that applies to me, other than federal public loan forgiveness,” she said.
Taitano has invested a “significant amount of money” into her education.
“You don’t really get paid a living wage as a physician resident,” she said. “And you dedicate yourself fully to the care of patients and building your clinical acumen and building your technical skills. So your finances, and your family’s finances, are sort of a sacrifice.”
Taitano’s intention had always been to return and practice in Hawai‘i, especially after receiving recommendation from her mentors to bring back the skills she acquired on the mainland.
“I’m still going to be mandated to pay off my federal loans for 10 years through public loan forgiveness,” she said, “but maybe less because the HELP program has helped to decrease the total amount.”
For more information or to apply, visit ahec.hawaii.edu/ hawaii-help/
