Maui has the worst doctor shortage in Hawaiʻi. Kula Hospital has been closed for months. If your baby needs intensive care, you fly to Oʻahu. Here's what getting medical care on this island actually looks like in 2026.
The JABSOM 2026 Physician Workforce Report finds Hawaiʻi 833 doctors short statewide. The gap is concentrated on the neighbor islands: Maui needs 179 more doctors, Hawaiʻi Island needs 224, Kauaʻi 50, and Honolulu 379. Honolulu has the largest absolute shortage; the neighbor islands have far higher percentage gaps. Maui's primary care shortage is the worst in the state.
Source: Civil Beat, January 2026, citing the JABSOM 2026 Physician Workforce Report.
The hospital is closed.
The doctors are leaving.
Maui County has five hospitals across three islands. Maui Memorial in Kahului is the only acute-care hospital on Maui. Kula Hospital has been closed since the March 2026 storm, displacing more than 100 patients. Lānaʻi Community Hospital handles 24-hour urgent care only; mothers cannot give birth on Lānaʻi.
Maui Now: Kula Hospital patients displaced →Statewide, Hawaiʻi is 644 doctors short. Maui is 179 short, a 41% gap, and Maui's primary care shortage is the worst in the state. The post-fire physician exodus has not been replaced. Doctors cannot afford to live here.
Civil Beat: Hawaiʻi's physician shortage →Maui Memorial has no neonatal ICU. Complex cardiology, oncology, neonatal care, and high-risk obstetrics require a flight to Oʻahu. Civil Beat found more than two-thirds of Maui County residents delayed care last year, a 21% jump from 2022.
Civil Beat: even medical workers struggle to get care →On July 1, 2026, HMSA reverts from capitated payments to fee-for-service, a change physicians warn will further destabilize independent practices. Federal cuts under H.R.1 are projected to drop 40,000 Hawaiʻi residents from coverage. The HMSA-HPH merger remains contested.
Civil Beat: the HMSA-HPH merger debate →UHERO's 2025 follow-up found 51% of Lahaina children screened positive for some level of depression, with 22% in the severe range. One in three has elevated blood pressure. The crisis is intensifying, not fading.
UHERO: from crisis to recovery →Native Hawaiians live the shortest lives of any major group in Hawaiʻi, a 2025 University of Hawaiʻi study found. NHPI residents are at least three times more likely to develop chronic disease. Roughly 15% of Native Hawaiians lack health insurance. Hāna District depends on a single federally-qualified health center.
UH Mānoa: life expectancy in Hawaiʻi, 2025 →The care we have left is exposed to the next storm. In March 2026, back-to-back Kona lows dropped four feet of rain on Kula, damaged most of the building, and forced 112 patients and residents off-island. Climate risk and aging infrastructure are now the next chapter of the healthcare story.
Read Our Dangers →