DoH Coverup? Health Dep't Fines Hilo Medical Practice $2.19M for Minor Paperwork Violation

by Andrew Walden

Hawai’i Free Press, June 12, 2025, interviewed attorney Jeff Portnoy who represents Hilo and Keaau Urgent Care facilities being targeted by the State Department of Health with a $2.19M fine over paperwork violations.

Here is what he told us:

“For the last 22 years, where (was the Department of Health)?  Asleep at the switch.  They haven’t shown us any evidence that what was going on for two decades has harmed any patient.  All of a sudden somebody makes a complaint after 22 years of my client operating these (medical) labs with no problems.

"If (the $2.19M fine is) upheld by the hearings officer it will mean the closure of these two urgent care facilities.

"My client did have a federal permit from the beginning (in 2003) for the Hilo Urgent Care Center.  They didn't see any need for a federal permit for the Keaau Urgent Care Center (opened in 2008) because they considered it a satellite office and that they could operate under the Hilo license which has been renewed every two years. 

"And, by the way, those federal CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment) license renewal requests are sent to the State DoH.  Then the state forwards them to the feds.  So DoH had to have known that we were operating without a State license.

"I'm told that more than 50% of the urgent care centers statewide don’t have the state license (to operate a clinical lab).

"When the State DoH came in March and said, by the way, you need a federal license for Keaau, we went out and we got it within days.  We also filed for the State license.  And do you know where that application is?  It is sitting in a desk drawer at DoH.

"And all of a sudden now (DOH) wants to issue a press release about how great they are.  You know that they finally found these ‘horrible people’ (at Hilo and Keaau Urgent Care Centers) who are serving a completely undeserved community and have been for more than two decades.

"It's just incompetence and an embarrassment to the State.  And for them to trumpet what they're doing is just outrageous. 

"But what really made me angry: We had a preliminary meeting with the hearings officer last week and at that meeting an agreement was reached with the deputy attorney general that there would be a ‘stand-still’ until our next pre-hearing meeting which is next Monday.

"I specifically brought up the cease and desist order; they agreed that we can continue to provide the tests until we met again on Monday to see if we can come to an agreement on what to do going forward -- or whether we had to bring a motion for an injunction.

"They completely violated that agreement by issuing this press release today, which is causing massive problems for my clients. So it's not only the merits, but it's the audacity to break an agreement we reached just a week ago by issuing this press release.

"It’s going to go to the hearings officer and we've got lots of factual legal arguments and I'm very optimistic we're going to prevail." 

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OFFICE OF HEALTH CARE ASSURANCE ISSUES $2,190,000 PENALTY AGAINST HAWAIʻI ISLAND CARE CENTERS

News Release from Hawai’i Department of Health, Jun 12, 2025

HILO, Hawai’i – The Hawai’i Department of Health (DOH) Office of Health Care Assurance (OHCA) has issued an Order to Cease and Desist Clinical Laboratory Operations against Hilo Urgent Care Center, LLC and Hilo Urgent Care Center, LLC, dba Kea’au Urgent Care Center. 

Both centers are in violation of state law for operating clinical laboratories on the island of Hawai’i without a state of Hawai’i clinical laboratory permit. Kea’au Urgent Care Center also is in violation of federal law for operating without a federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) certificate.

On March 25, 2025, a DOH inspector confirmed that Hilo Urgent Care Center, LLC was illegally operating a clinical laboratory without a state of Hawai’i clinical laboratory permit since it opened in June 2003. It also was confirmed that Kea’au Urgent Care Center was illegally operating a clinical laboratory without a CLIA certificate and without a state of Hawai’i clinical laboratory permit since it opened in July of 2008.

Hilo Urgent Care Center, LLC has been assessed a $730,000 penalty for the following violations:

• Failure to obtain a state of Hawai’i clinical laboratory permit prior to opening in June of 2003.

Hilo Urgent Care Center, LLC dba Kea’au Urgent Care Center has been assessed a $1,460,000 penalty for the following violations:

• Failure to obtain a state of Hawai’i clinical laboratory permit prior to opening in July of 2008, and;
• Failure to obtain a CLIA certificate prior to opening in July of 2008.

The DOH CLIA section regulates and licenses clinical laboratories in the state of Hawai’i that perform testing for the purposes of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any disease or impairment of, or the assessment of, the health of human beings.

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HTH: Hawaii Island Urgent Care centers fined $2.19 million

SN: Urgent care centers fined for illegally operating labs

KHON: Hawaiʻi Island clinics fined for not having proper permits | KHON2