STAND. COM. REP. NO. 847

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1178

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1178, 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 increase the reimbursement rate for acupuncture treatments allowed under personal injury protection benefits provided through motor vehicle insurance.

 

     Specifically, the measure increases the acupuncture treatment rate from $75 to $105.70 per visit and establishes a formula based on the Medicare economic index to annually adjust the treatment rate thereafter.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Institute for Clinical Acupuncture and one individual.  Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Hawaii Insurers Council.

 

     Your Committee finds that increasing the reimbursement rate for authorized treatment by licensed acupuncturists would address inflation and the increased cost of providing care, as the reimbursement rate has not increased in twenty years. 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the maximum per-visit amount for acupuncture treatment from $105.70 to an unspecified amount; and

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2053, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     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. 1178, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1178, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair