STAND. COM. REP. NO.  337

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   H.B. No. 426

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services & Housing and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 426 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to provide better prescription drug access to Medicaid patients by providing prescriptive authority to Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to prescribe psychotropic medications, except under QUEST plans, and requiring annual reports from the Department of Human Services (DHS) regarding the number of psychotropic medications prescribed by APRNs.

 

     The Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association and many concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.  The Hawaii Medical Association opposed this measure.  DHS provided comments.

 

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the provision that exempted QUEST plans from APRN prescriptive authority;

 

     (2)  Specifying that APRNs must enter into a collegial relationship with a psychiatrist or physician to prescribe psychotropic medications; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services & Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 426, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 426, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

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

 

 

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair

 

____________________________

MAILE SHIMABUKURO, Chair