The Hawaii Department of Health has approved a certificate of need for a new dialysis center in central Maui.

U.S. Renal Care applied for permission to open up the $9 million facility in Kahului. The State Health Planning and Development Agency, which is attached to the Health Department, ruled Monday that the facility can proceed.

The Kahului center is expected to open in November 2023 and will have 18 hemodialysis stations.

Fresenius, which operates Liberty Dialysis centers on Maui, opposed U.S. Renal Care’s application, contending additional hemodialysis stations were unnecessary in part because patient demand is greater for in-home dialysis.

Hawaii law allows competitors to contest the opening of rival dialysis centers, but this isn’t the case in every state.

U.S. Renal Care projects the new center will experience a shortfall its first year of operating, with net revenue of $1.8 million and expenses exceeding $1.9 million that first year. But the company expects net revenue to jump above $4.6 million in the second year and exceed $5.3 million in the third year of operations, outpacing expenses by more than $1 million each year.

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This story was produced with support from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2022 Impact Fund for Reporting on Health Equity and Health Systems, and Civil Beat supporter Dr. Mary Therese Perez Hattori.