Health Care

When Hilo attorney Ted Hong filed a complaint against the Hawaii Medical Service Association years ago, he likened it to David and Goliath — HMSA is the largest health insurer in the state. HPR talked to Hong about a recent ruling.

A strike can take place after Wednesday, when the workers' contracts end. The union members are demanding improved staffing and better wages.

The state is planning how it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars from a new federal Rural Health Transformation Program, and it wants public input. The funds can be used on different initiatives like improving technology, boosting the health care workforce and increasing preventative care.

Attorney Ted Hong discusses a recent ruling in his lawsuit against HMSA; Hawaiʻi State Auditor Les Kondo talks about the launch of an AI-generated podcast

Mohala Liko Lehua, a partnership between Hawaiʻi Land Trust and the Native Hawaiian learning department at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, mixes ʻāina-based practices into behavioral health fellowships. Six people throughout the state were chosen for a year-long fellowship for the program’s inaugural year.

The only machine before this addition was at the Wilcox Medical Center in Līhuʻe, which meant patients faced months-long wait times or had to travel to Oʻahu for necessary tests and screenings.

California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaiʻi announced joint recommendations Wednesday about who should be vaccinated for seasonal respiratory viruses, including the flu and COVID-19, saying the Trump administration has jeopardized public health by politicizing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Retired Judge Karen Radius, Judge Dyan Medeiros and supervisor Valerie Lazo share the successes of Hawaiʻi's Girls Court; Author Hampton Sides revisits the story of James Cook in the New York Times bestseller "The Wide Wide Sea"

Michelle Ankele-Yamashita’s medical saga started almost a year ago, beginning with a bad case of the flu. The Conversation spoke with her and the transplant doctors who saved her life.

Farm Link Hawaiʻi's Claire Sullivan on the recent announcement that it will be carrying fresh milk from Hawaiʻi's last dairy farm, Cloverleaf Dairy, on Hawaiʻi Island; Bahman Sadeghi, who bought the Meadow Gold processing plant on Hawaiʻi Island five years ago, discusses the history of Hawaiʻi's dairy business.