HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1967 |
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018 |
H.D. 1 |
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HEALTHCARE PRECEPTOR TAX CREDITS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that demand for healthcare providers in Hawaii is growing because of an increase in population size, particularly among the aged population; an improvement in access to care due to broader insurance coverage; and a higher prevalence of chronic diseases. At the same time, there is a primary care provider shortage in Hawaii that will be exacerbated by the projected retirements of current physicians and advanced practice registered nurses. If nothing is done to address the gap between healthcare supply and demand, patients will suffer from longer wait times to see providers and poorer health outcomes. Even more so, the evolution of healthcare delivery means academic institutions across Hawaii face challenges in ensuring an adequate number of future healthcare professionals who are well-distributed by location and by specialty and who are prepared to deliver primary, specialty, and behavioral health care in rural, urban, and suburban settings across Hawaii. Thus, the legislature acknowledges that in order to meet these growing healthcare demands, the State must work with academic institutions and healthcare professionals to ensure that there is an adequate and well-prepared healthcare workforce.
The legislature further finds that Hawaii high school students and residents are interested in pursuing careers in the healthcare service industry. However, in-state educational institutions are constrained by the lack of clinical education and field work sites in Hawaii and the limited supply of qualified primary and specialty care preceptors. The legislature recognizes that current efforts are underway to address these clinical site limitations, including travel support from health professional schools in Hawaii for students and residents who are incurring high costs for training away from their home island. With out-of-state training having such a high cost, the State must consider expanding in-state healthcare provider education capacity.
The legislature also finds that the development of new clinical preceptors and training sites is increasingly difficult. The cohort of preceptors consists largely of volunteers who share the kuleana of educating the future healthcare workforce. Yet, providers who offer such volunteer-based education assume this responsibility above and beyond their regular patient-care responsibilities, subjecting themselves to preceptor fatigue, especially in busy clinical settings. Developing sufficient clinical training opportunities and field placements in areas of high demand requires a sufficient number of appropriately trained preceptors, but the limited availability of preceptors restricts in-state healthcare academic institutions from expanding healthcare provider training. Some states, including Maryland, Georgia, and Colorado, have identified preceptor tax exemptions as a means to increase the supply of health professional preceptors and trainees.
The purpose of this Act is to create a tax credit that encourages preceptors to offer professional instruction, training, and supervision to students and residents seeking careers as healthcare providers throughout Hawaii, with the intention of building capacity for clinical education at in-state academic programs that are nationally accredited for the training of medical, nursing, dental hygiene, social work, psychology, physical therapist assistant, or pharmacy professionals.
SECTION 2. Chapter 235, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§235- Healthcare preceptor tax credit. (a)
There shall be allowed to each taxpayer subject to the tax imposed by
this chapter, a healthcare preceptor tax credit for supervising volunteer-based
supervised clinical training rotations which shall be deductible from the
taxpayer's net income tax liability, if any, imposed by this chapter for the
taxable year in which the credit is properly claimed.
(b) The amount of the credit determined under
this section for the taxable year shall be equal to $1,000 for each volunteer-based
supervised clinical training rotation supervised by the taxpayer; provided that
the aggregate amount of tax credit awarded to any taxpayer pursuant to this
section shall not exceed $5,000 for any income tax year regardless of the
number of volunteer-based supervised clinical training rotations supervised by
the taxpayer.
(c) The director of taxation:
(1) Shall prepare
any forms that may be necessary to claim a tax credit under this section; and
(2) May require the
taxpayer to furnish the certificate issued under subsection (d) and any other
reasonable information necessary to ascertain the validity of the claim for the
tax credit made under this section.
(d) The healthcare preceptor tax credit working
group, established pursuant to section 321- , shall:
(1) Maintain
records of the names and addresses of the qualified taxpayers claiming the
credits under this section; and
(2) Certify the
number of volunteer-based supervised clinical training rotations each taxpayer
supervised by verifying for each volunteer-based supervised clinical training
rotation the number of hours the taxpayer spent supervising an eligible student
or trainee and whether the taxpayer was uncompensated.
Upon each determination, the healthcare preceptor
tax credit working group shall issue a certificate to the taxpayer verifying
the number of volunteer-based supervised clinical training rotations supervised
by the taxpayer.
(e) If in any taxable year the annual amount of
certified credits reaches $2,000,000 in the aggregate, the healthcare preceptor
tax credit working group shall immediately discontinue certifying credits and
notify the department of taxation. In no
instance shall the healthcare preceptor tax credit working group certify a
total amount of credits exceeding $2,000,000 per taxable year. To comply with this restriction, the healthcare
preceptor tax credit working group shall certify credits on a first come, first
served basis.
(f) A tax credit under this section that exceeds
the taxpayer's income tax liability may be used as a credit against the
taxpayer's income tax liability in subsequent years until exhausted. All claims for tax credits under this
section, including any amended claims, shall be filed on or before the end of
the twelfth month following the close of the taxable year for which the credits
may be claimed. Failure to comply with this
subsection shall constitute a waiver of the right to claim the credit.
(g) For the purpose of this section:
"Academic program"
means an academic program that holds its principal accreditation in Hawaii.
"Advanced practice
registered nurse student" means an individual participating in an academic
program that is nationally accredited for the training of individuals to become
advanced practice registered nurses pursuant to chapter 457.
"Dental hygienist
student" means an individual participating in an academic program that is
nationally accredited for the training of dental hygienists or expanded dental
hygienist pursuant to chapter 447.
"Eligible professional
degree or training certificate" means a degree or certificate that
fulfills a requirement to be a dental hygienist pursuant to chapter 447, a
physician or osteopathic physician pursuant to chapter 453, an advanced
practice registered nurse pursuant to chapter 457, a physical therapist
assistant pursuant to chapter 461J, a pharmacist pursuant to chapter 461, a
psychologist pursuant to chapter 465, or a social worker pursuant to chapter
467E.
"Eligible student or
trainee" means an advanced practice registered nurse student, dental
hygienist student, medical student, pharmacy student, psychology student,
social work student, physical therapist assistant student, or resident or
similar health science trainee.
"Medical student" means
an individual participating in an academic program accredited by Liaison
Committee on Medical Education or Commission on Osteopathic College
Accreditation leading to the doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic
medicine degree. For the purposes of
this section the term medical student includes graduates from Liaison Committee
on Medical Education and Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation
programs who have continued their training to obtain the additional
qualifications needed for both medical licensure pursuant to chapter 453 and
specialty certification. These LCME and
COCA graduates are called "residents" or "fellows" who are
in a graduate medical education program accredited by the Accreditation Council
for Graduate Medical Education.
"Nationally accredited"
means holding an institutional accreditation by name to offer post-secondary
education as a United States-based institution from a national accrediting
agency recognized by the United States Department of Education.
"Pharmacy student"
means an individual participating in an academic program that is nationally
accredited for the training of individuals to become registered pharmacists
pursuant to chapter 461.
"Preceptor" means a dentist
or dental surgeon licensed pursuant to chapter 448, a physician or osteopathic
physician licensed pursuant to chapter 453, an advanced practice registered
nurse licensed pursuant to chapter 457, a pharmacist licensed pursuant to
chapter 461, a physical therapist licensed pursuant to chapter 461J, a psychologist
licensed pursuant to chapter 465, or a social worker pursuant to chapter 467E
who may be either licensed or unlicensed.
"Psychology student"
means an individual participating in an academic program that is nationally
accredited for the training of individuals to become psychologists pursuant to
chapter 465.
"Physical
therapist assistant student" means an individual participating in an
academic program that is nationally accredited for the training of individuals
to become registered physical therapist assistants pursuant to chapter 461J.
"Resident or similar health
science trainee" means a post-graduate health science trainee enrolled in
an accredited academic program that is nationally accredited for such training
pursuant to chapter 447, 453, 457, 461, 461J, 465, or 467E.
"Social
worker student" means an individual participating in an academic program
in this State that is nationally accredited for the training of social work
professionals pursuant to chapter 467E.
"Volunteer-based supervised clinical training rotation" means an uncompensated period of supervised clinical training on behalf of an eligible student or trainee that totals at least eighty hours of supervisory time annually, in which a preceptor provides personalized instruction, training, and supervision that is offered to an eligible student or trainee to enable the eligible student or trainee to obtain an eligible professional degree or training certificate."
SECTION 3. Chapter 321, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§321- Healthcare preceptor tax credit working
group. (a) There is established the healthcare preceptor
tax credit working group within the department of health, to be convened by the
University of Hawaii Hawaii/Pacific basin area health education center and center
for nursing. The working group shall:
(1) Discuss and
create a comprehensive plan to address healthcare preceptor shortages in this State;
and
(2) Develop and
implement a plan for allocating and distributing healthcare preceptor tax
credits under section 235- .
(b) The working group shall be composed of the
following members or their designees:
(1) Deans or
directors of each academic program that is nationally accredited for the
training of dental hygienists pursuant to chapter 447;
(2) Deans or directors
of each academic program that is nationally accredited for the training of physicians
or osteopathic physicians pursuant to chapter 453;
(3) Deans or
directors of each academic program that is nationally accredited for the
training of advanced practice registered nurses pursuant to chapter 457;
(4) Deans or directors
of each academic program that is nationally accredited for the training of
pharmacists pursuant to chapter 461;
(5) Deans or directors of each academic program
that is nationally accredited for the training of psychologists pursuant to
chapter 465; and
(6) Deans or directors of each academic program
that is nationally accredited for the training of social workers pursuant to chapter
467E.
(c) As used in this section:
"Academic program" shall
have the same meaning as in section 235- .
"Nationally accredited" shall have the same meaning as in section 235- ."
SECTION
4. The department of health shall
evaluate the efficacy of the healthcare preceptor tax credit established by
this Act and submit a report to the legislature no later than June 30, 2024,
which shall include the department's findings and a recommendation of whether
the tax credit should be retained or repealed.
SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000; provided that section 2 shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2018.
Report Title:
Registered Nurses; Doctors; Dentists; Dental Hygienists; Pharmacists; Psychologists; Preceptors; Social Workers; Tax Credits
Description:
Allows advanced practice registered nurses, physicians, dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, and social workers to receive tax credits for acting as preceptors in volunteer-based supervised clinical training rotations provided to eligible students that enable the students to obtain an eligible healthcare professional degree or certificate. (HB1967 HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.