STAND. COM. REP. NO. 591

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 788

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 788, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure that patients who are waitlisted for long-term care receive appropriate medical care.

 

     Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Requires the Department of Human Services to presume Medicaid eligibility for qualified patients who have been waitlisted for long-term care;

 

     (2)  Appropriates funds to the Department of Human Services for reimbursements for services provided during the time that patients who are waitlisted are enrolled in Medicaid and later disenrolled as a result of ineligibility; and

 

     (3)  Requires the Department of Human Services to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of implementing a computerized system to process Medicaid applications.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from John M. Kirimitsu, Kaiser Permanente; and Christina Donkervoet, Director of Care Coordination and Patient Flow, The Queen's Medical Center.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to the measure from Patricia McManaman, Interim Director, Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee finds that it costs Hawaii hospitals millions of dollars in lost revenues when there are delays in discharging patients who have applied for Medicaid and are waitlisted for long-term care.  The discharge times range from a few days to more than a year for waitlisted patients who are deemed medically ready for discharge and are no longer in need of acute care services, but who cannot be discharged due to various barriers including delays in Medicaid eligibility determinations.

 

     It puts a tremendous strain on the patient, the health care provider, and the overall health care service sector when waitlisted patients are ready for discharge, but must remain in acute care until their Medicaid applications are processed.

 

     Developing a long-term solution to the problems associated with the Medicaid eligibility and re-eligibility determinations will ease some of the burden on Hawaii hospitals and improve the quality of life for patients who then become eligible for an earlier discharge.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the appropriation to an unspecified sum;

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 788, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 788, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair