Health-care groups to merge July 1

Advertiser Staff and News Services

A merger between two Hawai'i nonprofit health care associations will take effect July 1 after years of negotiations. The Hawai'i Association for Home Care (HAHC) will be folded into a new division in the Healthcare Association of Hawai'i (HAH).

Former HAHC executive director Rose Ann Poyzer becomes vice president of HAH's new Home Care and Hospice Division, and members of HAHC will sit on the HAH board of directors.

"The merger was prompted by the fact that health care has changed," said Richard E. Meiers, president and CEO of Healthcare Association of Hawai'i. "We'll now represent the full spectrum of health coverage."

Healthcare Association of Hawai'i members include all of Hawai'i's hospitals and two-thirds of nursing home beds in the state. The members of HAHC include Medicare-certified home health agencies, hospices, private duty home care agencies, home infusion pharmacies, home medical equipment and supplies companies.

The merger extends the entire continuum of health care and enables the merged association to speak with authority on any issue relating to health care, Meiers said.