Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —

In a press release issued Thursday, the American Samoa Medicaid State Agency said the agency is encouraged and hopeful that the Kapiolani Children’s Hospital is slowly opening up a pathway for the Medicaid program to refer children’s cases to Honolulu.

This comes after the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children (more popularly known as the Kapiolani Children’s Hospital) accepted a pediatric case from American Samoa — for only the second time since 2013.

Medicaid Director Sandra King Young explained, “It’s been a long time trying to establish our credit in the State of Hawaii to reinstate a pathway for medical referrals.

“One of our most important objectives is to reinstate a reliable pathway for the medical referrals of our children to Honolulu. It has taken small steps to get us to this point and we need to keep this pathway viable for our children who need medical treatment not available on island.

“This second acceptance of a pediatric case by Kapiolani Children’s Hospital is a huge milestone for Medicaid and for American Samoa. We continue to work with Hawaii Pacific Health to design a pathway for the future.”

According to the press release, the COVID pandemic has created extreme hardship for referral cases out of American Samoa, with New Zealand closed and Hawaii hospitals filled to capacity, many referral cases have been denied.

 Medicaid is currently working on a non-emergency referral program to the State of Hawaii as New Zealand borders will not reopen until July.