Specialist care shouldn't depend on your zip code

Dr. Morton grew up in Kea‘au — he knows exactly what a Hilo-to-Honolulu medical trip costs a family in time, money, and logistics. The program is built to spend your travel wisely: telehealth visits handle consultation and follow-up when a clinic isn't close; X-rays and MRI happen at facilities on your island; and when surgery is the answer, testing, operation, and early recovery consolidate into one planned O‘ahu trip. Hawai‘i Island patients can also be seen in person at the Hilo clinic or the Kona clinic — and most robotic hip and knee replacements can now be done on-island at Hilo Community Surgery Center.

For a joint replacement, the typical itinerary runs 10–14 days:

Mainland patients — snowbirds, former residents, families with Hawai‘i ties — use the same system: consultation by telehealth (since coming in isn't practical), imaging near home, one planned trip. US insurance typically applies normally (see accepted plans). International patients from Guam and Saipan, American Samoa, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand get dedicated market pages and written package pricing. The umbrella for all of it is the destination surgery program.

Part of this the office simply does as part of your care: scheduling your surgery and pre-operative testing, requesting and reviewing your records, ordering imaging near home, verifying your benefits and putting an estimate in writing, sharing Dr. Morton's rehabilitation protocols with a therapist on your island, and answering the questions that keep you up at night — including whether your plan offers interisland travel assistance for off-island care, a benefit many Hawai‘i patients don't know they have. The trip itself — recovery-friendly lodging near the clinic (ground-floor or elevator access, walkable to therapy), flights, ground transportation on O‘ahu and full itinerary management — isn't bundled in, but it can be arranged for you: that is the TotalCare Elite level of the PBJ Rapid Recovery Concierge, and inter-island travel and lodging coordination is also available on its own. Ask when you call: (808) 439-6201.