Honolulu Weekly

What was your biggest accomplishment this session?
SB 1673 reinvents the Hawaii Health System, making it financially more stable and able to better provide services for Hawaii’s people, especially those in rural areas. This bill allows for local control of the HHSC hospitals and begins the process to allow them to become non-profits and partner with private investors. Essentially SB1673 rescue the state hospital system for the future.

With which piece of 2009 legislation are you most proud to be affiliated and why?
SB1673

What was the biggest disappointment of the session and how might a similar disappointment be prevented in the future?
“The Hawaii Health Corps, a program to repay health professionals loans if they agree to work in under-served areas, was deferred at least one year until the state’s financial position improves. This measure is necessary to get physicians and nurses to practice where we need them most.”

Debating which issue turned out to be the biggest distraction from your priorities?
“HB444 requires collaboration and compromise but should not dominate the legislative calendar.”

What’s one thing you wish voters better understood about you or the political process as a whole?
“Voters should be aware that citizen legislatures like Hawaii’s benefit from people with other careers, because this adds perspective to the process. Being the only physician in the legislature, though it requires me to be on call every weekend and holiday and consumes significant time and energy, allows me to contribute more to the state on all health related issues.”