More than 150 Hawaii doctors left the state this year - roughly 5% of workforce (insurance, home)

[whtviper1]

This article was a bit startling - roughly 5% of full time physicians left Hawaii last year.

But it is actually worse than that - in addition to all those who left - 90 retired, 123 reduced hours, 4 died.

23% of active physicians are 65 and older. The Big Island has the worst shortage.

Anyone who is contemplating a move to Hawaii with health issues should do their best to make sure they can get a physician before the move. Especially those that take medicare/medicaid.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/1...ate-this-year/

[rya96797]

Nothing new. Pretty much been happening across all professions in hawaii. Same story, high cost of living, low pay. Doctors are also encumbered by the high cost of medical malpractice insurance, poor medquest/medicare reimbursement, and high debt load. It's no wonder that even local doctors, returning from school from the mainland, turn tail and run right back to the mainland

[prospectheightsresident]

An informative article. Still, while I don't doubt that there is a doctor shortage, it would've be helpful to note how many doctors moved to the state in that same time period. Also, while not very helpful to those who don't qualify for such services, the fact also remains that any doctor shortage isn't felt as badly as it otherwise would be given that nearly 10% of the State's population is active duty military and dependents who use military/DoD doctors and hospitals.

[TwoByFour]

People adjust. I see the physician's assistant more than a doc and that is OK with me for non-serious things. Or I just don't go to the doc. My wife had a serious problem and we went to the mainland to get it resolved; took the opportunity to visit family and friends. We are both on Medicare and get by but hypochondriacs definitely should not move here.

[rya96797]

Originally Posted by TwoByFour

People adjust. I see the physician's assistant more than a doc and that is OK with me for non-serious things. Or I just don't go to the doc. My wife had a serious problem and we went to the mainland to get it resolved; took the opportunity to visit family and friends. We are both on Medicare and get by but hypochondriacs definitely should not move here.

People adjust, like how big island residents adjust. They deal with poor healthcare across the island, and if anything serious happens, they need to fly to oahu.

We might see this more and more on oahu, where assistants and nurses provide most of the care, and doctors are far and few between. For serious cases, you need to get on a plane to california.

[terracore]

Eventually human doctors will be obsolete. AI doctors won't make mistakes and can't be sued. We are in the early stages where AI is assisting doctors, on the horizon human doctors will be assisting AI, and after that, doctors will themselves be diagnosed or treated by AI.

https://fortune.com/2016/11/02/ibm-w...ealth-doctors/

"Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush, however, disagreed. “It’s OK—we’re friends here—of course you’re going to replace me!” he exclaimed, noting the limitations of traditional doctors.

“The human is wrong so freaking often, it’s a massacre,” said the co-founder of Athenahealth, which sells cloud-based electronic health records software to hospitals and doctors’ offices. “Nobody ever goes after the radiologist—they’re wrong so often we don’t blame ’em.”

While less enthusiastic about artificial intelligence’s current contributions to healthcare, Bush suggested a perhaps more radical vision of the future, in which machines do indeed supplant many rudimentary medical functions..."

[whtviper1]

Interesting this is apparently not an issue for some of you.....

I don't know - when you get a cyst on your back, doing a tele doc may not give you the result you want when a physical doctor can deal with it......

[rya96797]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Interesting this is apparently not an issue for some of you.....

I don't know - when you get a cyst on your back, doing a tele doc may not give you the result you want when a physical doctor can deal with it......

That's what youtube and your mom is for?

[terracore]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Interesting this is apparently not an issue for some of you.....

I don't know - when you get a cyst on your back, doing a tele doc may not give you the result you want when a physical doctor can deal with it......

Considering the length of time it takes to get somebody from 'I want to be a doctor', through college, medical school, internships, etc to where they can function independently.... let's say that is 10 years. That's assuming no gap years and going to school full time.

So now Hawaii, infamously glacial at moving any idea forward into a solution that will eventually cost 4x as much, take 4x as long, and be 25% as effective at solving whatever problem the solution was devised to correct is going to take a stab at solving this problem that exists everywhere else in the world? Sorry, but I have no faith that Hawaii is going to come up with a solution within my lifetime, which by looking at the charts is predicted to be longer than the 10+ years it takes to create a functioning doctor from an optimistic person who has over a million dollars laying around for their education and living expenses for those 10 years (yeah right).

So, Hawaii isn't going to create any doctors. Plan B can only be, poach them from somewhere else. Should be no problem with our low cost of living, lowest taxes in the nation, and awesome rail system that will whisk doctors from their affordable housing to the state-of-the art facilities where they can work their dream jobs getting over compensated from medicare and medicaid.

Okay, so there is no plan B either. This IS an issue for all of us, I'm just optimistically pessimistic enough that when I need treatment I'll be able to travel to wherever the treatment is, because the solution isn't going to be in Hawaii.

One clinic on the Big Island has taken to online begging to keep their doors open: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hilo-clinic-in-crisis

Sadly, AI and robotics will come further in 10 years towards providing health care than Hawaii will.

[rya96797]

Originally Posted by rya96797

That's what youtube and your mom is for?

Sorry, i wasn't trying to be mean. But for real, with the doctor shortage, it's either deal with possibly unqualified nurses or home remedies. Take your pick. But yes we do have good nurses in hawaii. But no, not the same qualifications as a real doctor.