STAND. COM. REP. NO 107

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 790

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 790 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROVIDER ORDERS FOR LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase access to provider orders for life-sustaining treatment by expanding health care provider signatory authority to include physician assistants.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Medical Service Association, Hawaii Academy of Physician Assistants, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from Hospice Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that Act 154, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, codified as chapter 327K, Hawaii Revised Statutes, enables patients or their surrogates to create provider orders for life-sustaining treatment.  Provider orders for life-sustaining treatment, also referred to as POLST, is a holistic method of planning for end-of-life care and a specific set of medical orders that ensure patients' wishes are honored.  Completing a POLST form encourages communication and conversations between patients and health care providers.

 

     Your Committee further finds that the national standard for authorized health care provider signatories includes licensed physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses.  However, chapter 327K, Hawaii Revised Statutes, limits POLST to licensed physicians and advanced practice registered nurses.  This creates a barrier to timely completion of POLST, especially in rural areas or on the neighbor islands.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting language to rename "physician orders for life-sustaining treatment" to "provider orders for life-sustaining treatment" to reflect Act 154, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, and making similar technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 790, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 790, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair