Days after announcing the selection of their first class of four medical residents, organizers of Hilo Medical Center’s Primary Care Residency Program got word that their request for operations funding had been thrown out of the state budget bill. Now, if it isn’t included during the Legislature’s joint conference committee, they say, the program could be in jeopardy. “We’re looking right now, and trying to decide whether we can afford to continue the program if we lose the funding,” said Boyd Murayama, HMC’s assistant hospital administrator and medical group practice director. On Monday, program and hospital administrators learned that the Senate Ways and Means Committee had removed their $2.8 million appropriation in the latest draft of the state budget, House Bill 1700. The money would be used to partially pay the salaries of the program’s five faculty members, as well as salaries for the program’s four resident physicians, and cover various expenses of the program, Murayama said. The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, state Sen. David Ige, said Thursday that while the item may have been left out of the budget, another bill, Senate Bill 3091, which seeks a one-time appropriation for the program, remains alive as the session continues. “I’ve been one of the biggest proponents of establishing that program,” he said. “We are trying to find money to support it going forward.” Subscribers get the full story by Stephens Media Hawaii reporter Megan Mosely here: westhawaiitoday/news/local-news/lawmakers-ax-funding-residency-program
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 02:00:01 +0000
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