The doctor shortage in Hawaii has not only persisted, but worsened, according to the most recent report tracking the numbers.<\/p>\n
The Hawaii Physicians Workforce Report<\/a> found the state short of 833 full-time equivalent doctors in 2025 compared to 768 in 2024, with the greatest gaps continuing on neighbor isles.<\/p>\n Similar to national trends, doctors in Hawaii are retiring due to age and burnout from the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Hawaii, many continue to leave due to lower pay compared to the U.S. continent while costs of living are higher, along with lower reimbursement rates and administrative burdens, among other challenges.<\/p>\n Dr. Kelley Withy, who oversees the study, said she was hopeful there would be continued recovery from the pandemic, as shown in 2023 and 2024, but that momentum did not last and \u201cnow we are losing traction.\u201d<\/p>\n During the height of the pandemic in 2020, many senior doctors retired, exacerbating the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t want their health to be at risk, so some of them retired,\u201d said Withy, a professor at the University of Hawaii\u2019s John A. Burns School of Medicine. \u201cAnd then there was a cliff for electronic heath records. Senior doctors who didn\u2019t want to adopt the electronic health records retired.\u201d<\/p>\n Don’t miss out on what’s happening!<\/p>\n Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It’s FREE!<\/p>\n As Hawaii doubles down on recruitment efforts, the state continues to struggle with a doctor shortage due to ongoing challenges, along with rising costs, federal cuts, and an aging population.<\/p>\n Short of specialists <\/p>\n The annual report to the state Legislature noted that of the 12,688 licensed physicians in Hawaii, only 3,647 are currently providing patient care.<\/p>\n Of those actively practicing, not all are full time, so the actual number of full-time equivalent physicians come out to about 3,044, which is 31 less than in 2024.<\/p>\n About a quarter of Hawaii\u2019s doctors are already ages 65 and older, which means they may be approaching retirement. Last year, at least 81 doctors retired, 14 died, and more than 88 moved away.<\/p>\n The greatest shortage by category remains in primary care physicians \u2014 the doctors who provide routine checkups, manage flu or diabetes, and refer patients to specialists. Hawaii is short of close to 180 full-time primary care doctors.<\/p>\n Hawaii is also short of specialists in pediatric critical care, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric and adult endocrinology, pediatric and adult pulmonology, and cardiothoracic and colorectal surgery.<\/p>\n The need is most pronounced in Hawaii County, which has a 43% gap, with 224 more doctors needed to fill it, followed by Maui County, which has a 41% shortage, with another 179 doctors to close it.<\/p>\n Maui County also has the highest percentage shortage of primary care physicians, at 35%. The Maui wildfires \u201cexacerbated an already significant shortage of providers\u201d and eliminated multiple health care facilities that have not been rebuilt, so the numbers are likely worse.<\/p>\n Neighbor island crisis <\/p>\n Dr. Scott Grosskreutz, a breast cancer specialist in Hilo and president of the Hawaii Healthcare Task Force, said on the neighbor isles, it\u2019s actually a crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cIn talking to many Neighbor Island healthcare professionals, there is clearly a crisis in our ability to continue to provide patient care in Hawaii\u2019s rural communities,\u201d wrote Grosskreutz in an email. \u201cThis is not simply another same old, same old 40% plus shortage of doctors, that our Neighbor Islands have suffered from for years.\u201d<\/p>\n He said many rural practices either have, or will soon close.<\/p>\n