STAND. COM. REP. NO. 226

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 43

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Higher Education and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 43 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PHYSICIAN WORKFORCE ASSESSMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Create the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund;

 

     (2)  Assess a $60 fee to obtain or renew physician and osteopathic physician licenses, and transfer those fees from the compliance resolution fund for deposit into the special fund for Hawaii physician workforce assessment and planning; and

 

     (3)  Appropriate funds to support the assessment.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii State Rural Health Association and one individual.  Testimony in opposition was submitted by the Department of Budget and Finance and the Hawaii Medical Association.  Comments were submitted by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees are supportive of the intent of this measure, but have heard a number of concerns raised regarding its provisions, including how information should be collected, the sharing of confidential data, and costs.

 

Your Committees concur that the information to be collected from the physician workforce assessment is vital, considering the ongoing shortage of physicians practicing in Hawaii.  Your Committees understand that interested stakeholders have been working towards including questions as part of physician renewal, which would initiate data gathering efforts for the John A. Burns School of Medicine, without placing undue burden on the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs or the Hawaii Medical Board.

 

Your Committees commend the parties for their cooperation, and urge the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Hawaii Medical Board to continue their collaborative work with the John A. Burns School of Medicine in their efforts to provide information related to physician workforce assessment.  Your Committees suggest that these entities also consider consulting other stakeholders, such as the Hawaii Medical Association, and others they deem appropriate.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the uses of the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund shall include maintaining accurate physician workforce assessment information in a secure data base, and providing or updating personal and professional information; and that the John A. Burns School of Medicine may disclose information specific to any physician only with the express written consent of that physician;

 

     (2)  Deleting comparable language from the new section in chapter 453, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which establishes the physician workforce assessment fee;

 

     (3)  Requiring the physician workforce assessment fee only for license renewal;

 

     (4)  Replacing the amendment to section 26-9(o), Hawaii Revised Statutes, with a comparable provision in Session Laws regarding the transfer of physician workforce assessment fees from the compliance resolution fund to the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund;

 

     (5)  Adding the Hawaii Medical Board to the recipients of the annual and biennial reports, and requiring the report to the Hawaii Medical Board to include information on the expenditure of fees collected to produce a physician workforce plan for Hawaii;

 

     (6)  Repealing the physician workforce assessment fee and the transfer of fees from the compliance resolution fund on June 30, 2012; and

 

     (7)  Making a technical amendment for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 43, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 43, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Health,

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

 

____________________________

JILL TOKUDA, Chair