HONOLULU – The Queen’s Health System will officially launch the Queen’s University Medical Group, its academic medical group practice, on July 1, 2022.

What You Need To Know

  • The merger in 2021 was facilitated by a three-party Affiliation Agreement between Queen’s, The University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine and University Health Partners of Hawaii

  • The QUMG structure will be like other Queen’s Health System entities: Queen’s Medical Center, North Hawaii Community Hospital, Molokai General Hospital, Queen Emma Land and the Queen’s Development Corporation

The nearly 600 providers of QUMG representing 17 specialties include physicians and advanced practice providers (advanced practice registered nurses, physicians assistants, psychologists, certified midwives), covers four hospitals — The Queen’s Medical Center, The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu, Molokai General Hospital and Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital — and 100 ambulatory clinical sites.

“Our vision is to be the preeminent medical group of the Pacific leading the delivery of high quality, compassionate patient care and continually advancing education and research,” said QUMG President Rick Bruno, M.D., in a news release. “QUMG and the affiliation between Queen’s and the University of Hawaii is designed to expand our clinical enterprise, improve medical education and research in Hawaii, engage the next generation of health care professionals, and improve the health and well-being of the people of Hawaii.”

The benefits of QUMG will include improvements to the patient experience and improved access through provider-led standardization of ambulatory practice operations, according to the release.

Dr. Bruno said QUMG will also allow for better collaboration and working multi-disciplinary teams across the health system.

“By unifying our practices, we will strengthen the education and development of the next generation of caregivers in a culturally grounded way, infuse research and innovation into our delivery systems, and expand and improve key clinical programs,” added Dr. Bruno. “We look forward to enhancing our already strong and longstanding partnerships with the university to achieve our shared goal of improving the health of our communities, both now and in the future.”

A separately incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of Queen’s, QUMG was formed in 2021 when most UH Manoa’s Faculty Practice physicians joined the Queen’s Medical Group.

Sarah Yamanaka is a digital journalist for Spectrum News Hawaii. Read more of her stories here.