STAND. COM. REP. NO.238

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 644

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 644 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to replace the electronic prescription Act, Act 304, SLH 1997, which sunsets June 31, 2001. This bill amends part I, of chapter 328, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Hawaii Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, to allow the electronic transmission of prescriptions by practitioners to dispensers, and to allow drug dispensers to keep electronic records of prescriptions.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Pharmacists Association and Kaiser Permanente. The Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) and Hawaii State Department of Health provided testimony in support of this measure and suggested amendments.

Your Committee finds that discrepancies occur between the prescription issued by a practitioner and the drugs dispensed by pharmacists as a result of hand written prescriptions. Incomplete and illegible prescriptions cause medication errors and result in longer prescription fill times. This bill allows these problems to be alleviated by authorizing electronic transmission of prescriptions from practitioners to drug dispensers.

Your Committee has amended this bill to:

(1) Include health plans and their authorized agents among the entities that may transmit prescriptions electronically;

(2) Address uncertainty about applicable law by removing the reference to chapter 323C, HRS, the Privacy of Health Care Information Act, and replacing it with general references to state and federal laws governing medical information privacy; and

(3) Ensure that the bill's restrictions on transmission of prescription or health care information are not construed or interpreted to prevent transmission of this information by prescribing practioners, health plans, pharmacies, and drug dispensers for the purpose of adjudication or payment of claims.

Your Committee has also made technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 644, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 644, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce,

____________________________

KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair