STAND. COM. REP. NO.617-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 1842

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1842, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF PHARMACY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to enable pharmacists to provide services in a broader range of clinical settings.

The Board of Pharmacy, Department of Health, American Pharmaceutical Association, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Hawaii Medical Services Association, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Pharmacists Association, Times Pharmacy, numerous pharmacists, and several physicians testified in support of this measure. Kaiser Permanente testified in support and requested an amendment to section 328-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to allow better implementation of the measure.

The Board of Medical Examiners and Hawaii Medical Association opposed this measure.

Your Committee finds that during the past fifteen years, the provision of health care services has shifted from acute care settings to less restrictive outpatient ambulatory care settings. Pharmacy laws have not followed this trend. In addition, your Committee finds that health care increasingly involves the appropriate selection and use of prescription drugs, and that the number and complexity of drugs continues to increase.

This bill will enable pharmacists to perform functions that they are presently authorized to perform in an licensed acute care hospital setting, beyond the four walls of that setting. The bill ensures patient safety by providing that pharmacists may only perform those functions pursuant to policies and protocols developed collaboratively with other health care professionals, and if they have received appropriate training.

Your Committee finds that this bill will enhance patient care by making the expertise of pharmacists more accessible to patients, and by encouraging the further development of a collaborative relationship between physicians and pharmacists for the purpose of providing patients with the most effective and appropriate health care.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1842, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce,

 

____________________________

KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair