STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1384

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.C.R. No. 93

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 93 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO ASSIST IN THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH UNIT, KNOWN AS THE MOLOKINI UNIT, AT MAUI MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, IN ORDER TO PROMOTE A LOCAL SYSTEM OF CARE ON THE ISLAND OF MAUI BASED ON THE HAWAII CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SYSTEM PROGRAM PRINCIPLES AND CONSISTENT WITH THE MANDATES OF THE 1997 FELIX CONSENT DECREE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the Department of Health to assist in the reestablishment of the child and adolescent mental health unit, known as the Molokini Unit, at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill O'ahu, the Mental Health Association in Hawaii, the Maui County Branch of the Mental Health Association in Hawaii, the Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association, the Hawaii Psychological Association, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, the Community Children's Council of Maui, and five individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Maui Memorial Medical Center and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure. The Department of Health submitted comments.

Your Committee finds that there is an urgent need in Maui for a system of psychiatric care for children and adolescents. Since the Molokini unit of the Maui Memorial Medical Center closed in July 2004, Maui families and their children in crisis are forced to seek help on Oahu. This delay in treatment and the lack of available on-call psychiatrists specializing in child and adolescent care exacerbate the crisis. Several proponents stressed that reunification of family members becomes more difficult as a child returns from an Oahu facility. Consequently, many adolescents are placed in residential services rather than returned to their homes. Further, the transportation and hotel costs of seeking treatment on Oahu pose an undue hardship on these families.

Following the close of the Molokini Unit, the Department of Health and the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation started working closely to reestablish child and adolescent psychiatry services on Maui. A crisis stabilization model is being proposed as a means of meeting urgent child and adolescent psychiatric health care needs without incurring the ongoing high costs of a full acute inpatient unit. Proponents envision crisis stabilization units in central Maui and Hilo that would focus on stabilizing the urgent medical crisis through intensive family treatment and psychiatric consultation.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the second, third, and fourth whereas clauses relating to a lawsuit;

(2) Changing the focus from urging the Department of Health to assist in the reopening the Molokini unit to facilitating a stakeholder group, in cooperation with Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, to develop and implement crisis stabilization services at the Maui Memorial Medical Center;

(3) Specifying five integral elements for the stakeholder group to focus on during the development process of the crisis stabilization services including exploring a partnership with Tripler Army Hospital's Psychiatry Department;

(4) Requesting that the Department of Health and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation submit a report of the stakeholder group's activities, including any findings and recommendations, to the Legislature not less than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2006; and

(5) Making technical, non-substantive changes for clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 93, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 93, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair