STAND. COM. REP. NO. 149

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1237

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1237 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Extend the sunset date of Act 156, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, relating to the nursing facility sustainability fee program, to June 30, 2014, and make conforming amendments; and

 

     (2)  Increase the cap for the nursing facility sustainability fee to twelve percent of net patient service revenue.

 

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Services.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Long Term Care Association.

 

     Your Committee finds that Act 156, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012 (Act 156), established the nursing facility sustainability program.  This program leverages available federal funding for the Department of Human Services to make supplemental payments to nursing facilities to help offset their uncompensated care costs and thereby increases the sustainability of Hawaii's long-term care facilities.

 

     Your Committee further finds that S.B. No. 1111, Regular Session of 2013, is the product of collaboration among the Department of Human Services, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and Hawaii Long Term Care Association that, among other things, extends the nursing facility sustainability fee program to June 30, 2014, maintains the four percent cap on the nursing facility sustainability fee, updates certain dates referenced in Act 156, and appropriates funds out of the nursing facility sustainability program special fund.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting its contents and inserting language from S.B. No. 1111; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1237, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1237, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair