Hawaii’s COVID-19 response for incarcerated people ranks 45th out of 50 states, according to a report the Prison Policy Initiative released last week — using data up until July 2021. Hawaii scored 125 points on a 445-point scale, and received a failing grade from the report. The Corrections Division under the Hawaii Department … Read more
As Hawaii faces a possible COVID case surge after Labor Day weekend, representatives from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH) met last week with the Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 to prepare hospitals and other health care facilities. DOH Director Elizabeth Char, MD, and HAH President and … Read more
Beth Giesting is the director of the Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center (HBPC), a public policy research and analysis program under Hawai’i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. Giesting’s work highlights the intersection between health care and policy, with a focus on their impacts on Hawai’i’s low-income and underserved communities. This month, Giesting published … Read more
Hawaii currently leads the nation with the highest vaccination rate — 87% — among nursing home staff, according to the recently released American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard. Hawaii also has 88.7% of nursing home residents fully vaccinated –the highest in the Pacific region and 11th highest in the nation, according … Read more
Francoise Culley-Trotman is the CEO of AlohaCare, one of Hawai‘i’s largest health plans. In this Q&A, Culley-Trotman gives an update on the Med-QUEST integration contract awarded to AlohaCare earlier this year and other ways it’s working to support economically and socially vulnerable communities in the state. Nicole Pasia: In March 2021, the Department … Read more