“I would already call it a crisis,” said Kelly Withy, primary researcher for the center’s Physician Workforce Assessment. “You don’t realize how desperate it is until you can’t find the care you need.”

Many patients wait months to get an appointment. In many cases — especially on the neighboring islands — people aren’t getting prompt treatment for serious diseases such as cancer, she said. On the Big Island, it can be two to three times more difficult to find a primary care physician, the type of doctor the state needs the most.

Read more at The Washington Times (AP)