MEDIA RELEASE

The Queen’s Health Systems (Queen’s), corporate parent of The Queen’s Medical Center (QMC), announced today that it has officially entered into an affiliation agreement with North Hawaii Community Hospital (NHCH).

In the agreement, NHCH will become a corporate entity under Queen’s, similar to QMC and Molokai General Hospital.

QMC has had a clinical affiliation with NHCH since 2005.

“Founded in 1859 by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, Queen’s has served its mission of providing quality healthcare services for over 153 years,” said Art Ushijima, president and CEO of The Queen’s Health Systems. “We will now be able to dedicate ourselves to serving the people of North Hawaii with the same standard of excellence that has been the foundation of our founders’ values and vision.”

Queen’s, as part of its affiliation with NHCH, will work with NHCH to assess and address NHCH’s immediate needs.

“Our priority is to create a relationship of cooperation and trust with NHCH and the people of North Hawaii,” Ushijima said. “Given NHCH’s challenging financial situation, an immediate focus is to stabilize the hospital so that it may start to focus on programs and services for its growth and development-a process which was started under Hookahua, NHCH’s performance improvement program.”

The affiliation is expected to be effective Jan. 1, 2014. Both Queen’s and NHCH expect the transition to occur without any disruption of service to the community.

The affiliation is subject to state approval.

“This affiliation represents a huge step forward in our ability to meet the healthcare needs of the community of North Hawaii and continue to deliver high quality healthcare at a reasonable cost. Having Queen’s as our partner will improve every aspect of the hospital.” said Bob Momsen, NHCH Board of Directors Chairman since 2008.

North Hawaii Community Hospital is a private, non-profit community hospital that serves more than 30,000 residents in North Hawaii. NHCH is an acute-care hospital with 33 licensed beds, 24 hour emergency services, 376 employees, and 68 active physicians.

Located in Waimea, NHCH opened in May 1996. Its mission is to improve the health of the people of North Hawaii by improving access to care and providing high-quality services at a reasonable cost.

Further substance and status of the agreement are confidential.

— Find out more:
www.NHCH.com
www.queenshealthsystems.com

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Solomon Statement

Honolulu- The Queen’s Health Systems (Queen’s) officially entered into an affiliation agreement Monday with North Hawaii Community Hospital (NHCH). Queen’s is the corporate parent of The Queen’s Medical Center (QMC).

Under the agreement, NHCH will become a corporate entity under Queen’s, similar to QMC and Molokai General Hospital.

Sen. Malama Solomon, who represents District 4 (Hilo, Hamakua, Kohala, Waimea, Waikoloa, Kona), issued this statement in response to the formal agreement:

I am very pleased to learn that The Queen’s Health Systems has entered into an affiliation with North Hawaii Community Hospital,” Solomon said. “This agreement represents an important step towards creating the solid foundation necessary to meeting the growing healthcare needs of the North Hawaii community. I look forward to the continued delivery of high quality healthcare services for all of our residents.”

The affiliation is expected to be effective Jan. 1, 2014.