STAND. COM. REP. NO. 443

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1482

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1482 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR HUMAN SERVICES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for Bay Clinic, Inc. for the construction of a new medical building and repairs and renovations to reopen an existing building.

The Hawaii County Department of Research and Development, Bay Clinic, Inc., and Hawaii Primary Care Association submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Department of Human Services submitted comments.

Your Committees find that the County of Hawaii has the largest proportionate share of people on welfare and food stamps, and on fixed incomes such as Social Security, disability, and pensions, than the other counties. All of Bay Clinic's health centers target the uninsured and the Medicaid population, which makes them a vital part of the health system on the island of Hawaii.

According to Bay Clinic, Inc., the Hilo Bay Clinic's building is no longer adequate for the provision of medical services to a growing Hilo community. During the last twelve years that Bay Clinic has been in the building providing services, onsite medical visits have increased four hundred percent from three thousand visits per year in 1993 to over twelve thousand visits in 2004. In addition, the dental clinic that Bay Clinic operates in Keaau, Puna district, is taxed to capacity with low-income or uninsured Hilo, Puna, and Ka'u residents trying to access care. The dental clinic has a waiting list and a waiting period of over four months to accept a new patient with non-emergency needs. Bay Clinic proposes to construct a new building in Hilo dedicated to the provision of medical services. The current medical services building will be renovated and used for dental services.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1482, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1482, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services,

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SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair