Hawaii Pacific Health is getting ready to open two new clinics in Kapolei and Honolulu, and one expanded clinic on Kauai, this summer, the first of five new clinics and expansions on two islands that represent a $35 million investment in primary care services by one of the state’s largest health care providers.
The projects include new or expanded Straub clinics in grocery-anchored retail centers in Kapolei, Honolulu and Mililani, another in a growing urban community, and a major expansion of the company’s clinic on Kauai.
“We think it’s among the best investments we can make,” CEO Ray Vara told Pacific Business News. “It’s increasing primary care and placing primary care out where patients live and work.”
The 16,000-square-foot Straub Medical Center clinic at The Grove at Ka Makana Alii, the mall’s second phase that will include a Foodland Farms grocery store, is set to open in early July with primary care physicians and specialists in pediatrics, pediatrics sports medicine, obstetrics and gynecology.
Hawaii Pacific Health hired two new primary physicians for the new clinic and is transferring another from the Straub clinic at Pearlridge. The specialists include new hires and physicians currently practicing at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Pali Momi Medical Center and Straub Medical Center, a spokeswoman told Pacific Business News.
More than 20 support staff are being hired for the clinic, including medical assistants, patient service representatives, nurses and radiology technologists, and Hawaii Pacific Health expects to hire more doctors and support staff within a year after the clinic opens.
A second new clinic will also open later in July in a 4,800-square-foot space at the new Aeo mixed-use tower in Kakaako with four primary care and urgent care doctors, as well as about 20 nurses and other support staff. Two of the physicians are transferring from the Straub clinics at First Insurance Center in Honolulu and in Kailua, while the other two are new hires.
The other Honolulu location is an 8,000-square-foot Straub clinic that will open at Kamehameha Schools’ Kuono Marketplace at the redeveloped block on Waialae Avenue across from Kahala Mall sometime in 2020. That shopping center will also be anchored by a Foodland Farms grocery store.
On the Garden Island, Kauai Medical Clinic’s new facility at the Kauai Village Shopping Center is expected to also open in July. The 7,900-square-foot clinic will be nearly four times larger than the current clinic in Kapaa. The one primary care doctor and seven support staff members will relocate to the new location once it’s completed, and the Hawaii Pacific Health spokeswoman said a second physician has been hired for the new clinic.
The fifth project is a future expansion of the clinic at the Town Center of Mililani.