4th Annual Hawai`i Island Healthcare Conference

Healthcare is at a crossroads. Despite remarkable medical advances, communities continue to face rising costs, widening disparities, and too little focus on prevention. Dr. Vivian Lee explores how payers, employers, providers, policymakers, and individuals can work together to improve population healthspan—helping people live longer, healthier lives. We'll discuss practical strategies to align incentives, strengthen community partnerships, and improve outcomes, while exploring how agentic AI can enable personalized health guidance, streamline care coordination, reduce administrative burden, and support better decision-making. Together, we can transform healthcare from a system focused on treating illness to one that empowers healthier lives.

Naupaka I

This interactive workshop introduces E Mālama Ola, a Hawaiʻi Island–developed suicide prevention training grounded in local culture, connection, and community collaboration. Through guided discussion, skill practice, and real-world examples, participants will build confidence in recognizing distress, having compassionate conversations about suicide, and supporting others through relationship-based, community-centered approaches.

Panelists

Naupaka II

This talk explores Hawaiʻi’s legacy as the “Health State,” examining both the strengths of our healthcare system and the growing challenges threatening its future. Participants will reflect on the opportunities and risks shaping healthcare in Hawaiʻi today and consider how renewed leadership, shared vision, and statewide collaboration can help build a stronger, more innovative “Health State 2030.”

Naupaka Ballroom

Across Hawaiʻi, communities are calling for stronger connections, greater resource awareness, and more coordinated maternal care. This panel will highlight collaborative efforts emerging across the pae ʻāina to strengthen relationships, improve care coordination, and build more connected and responsive systems of support for mothers, babies, and ʻohana.

Paniolo I

This presentation explores upcoming Medicaid and QUEST changes in Hawaiʻi, including new work requirements, Medicare-Medicaid alignment for dual eligibles, and the closure of ʻOhana Health Plan. The session will highlight community-based strategies to help eligible residents maintain coverage through outreach, renewal support, partnerships, and coordinated care navigation during these transitions. Presenters will also discuss the unique challenges facing Hawaiʻi Island communities and share collaborative solutions to reduce gaps in care and improve access to services.

Paniolo II

This panel will explore cross-system solutions to improve transitions of care for individuals with complex medical, behavioral, and social needs who face prolonged hospital stays due to discharge barriers. Drawing on local and national models, panelists will discuss collaborative strategies among hospitals, health plans, behavioral health providers, social services, and community organizations to reduce avoidable hospital days and strengthen care coordination across Hawaiʻi.

Paniolo III

This panel explores the growing shortage of practicum and internship placement sites for mental health trainees in Hawaiʻi. Representatives from training programs across the state will discuss challenges, share solutions, and engage participants in identifying strategies to strengthen the mental health workforce pipeline.