The state of Hawaii and Kaiser Permanente will fund the restoration and reopening of Kula Hospital on Maui, which closed after storm damage in March.
The project is preliminarily estimated at about $65 million, with the state providing $42 million and Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente investing $23 million, according to a Sept. 22 news release. The state and Kaiser noted costs may change as planning and construction details are finalized.
Storms in March forced the temporary closure of the hospital, its emergency department and the Hale Makamae residential care facility. Residents were relocated to Oahu, then returned to Maui and are now housed in a renovated interim space on the Maui Memorial Medical Center campus, according to the release.
The work includes repairs and modernization of resident rooms, activity rooms, nurse stations and essential building systems. Exterior windows and doors will be replaced with custom weather-protective units designed to meet historic-preservation requirements.
“Our support for Maui Health’s Kula Hospital builds on Kaiser Permanente’s ongoing commitment to address the needs of the communities we serve as we deliver on our mission of improving health,” Chair and CEO Greg Adams said in a statement shared with Becker’s, pointing to the system’s commitment of up to $32 million to Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles.
Construction planning is continuing, and Maui Health will share a reopening timeline once confirmed, according to the release. Kula Clinic remains open, while the hospital’s emergency department stays temporarily closed.
Kula Hospital is owned by the state and operated by Maui Health, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, which assumed operations of three Maui County hospitals from Hawaii Health Systems Corp. in 2017 under a 30-year lease.
