HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

99

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES AND HEALTH TO CONDUCT A JOINT FEASIBILITY STUDY ON THE RETURN OF UNUSED DRUGS BY NURSING HOMES FOR FUTURE DISPENSING TO INDIGENT PATIENTS.

 

 

WHEREAS, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that has the goal of providing health care to the indigent; and

WHEREAS, Medicaid programs are run by the state according to agreements with the federal government and provide for federal matching funds; and

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii appropriated approximately $80.2 million in federal and state funds through the QUEST program for pharmaceuticals in fiscal year 2002 and will spend approximately $100 million for the same purpose in fiscal year 2003; and

WHEREAS, a 2000 study by Oklahoma State University estimated that the nation's nursing homes discard somewhere between $73 million and $378 million worth of unused pharmaceutical drugs; and

WHEREAS, advances have been made in the packaging of pharmaceuticals to prevent tampering, such as bubble packs and individual packing; and

WHEREAS, many states do not have laws that allow for the return of unused pharmaceuticals for subsequent re-use; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii had a law prohibiting the return of pharmaceuticals once the drugs left the pharmacy, with the exception of long term care beds in hospitals with in house pharmacies; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature passed a law allowing for the return of unused pharmaceuticals; and

WHEREAS, the law was repealed within a year due to a scandal involving a large pharmacy; and

WHEREAS, during that short window, no pharmaceuticals were returned; and

WHEREAS, the rising costs of pharmaceuticals and the crisis facing many states with regards to state shares of Medicaid funding seem to necessitate revisiting possible cost-saving measures; and

WHEREAS, several states passed laws or rules dealing with pharmaceutical return and re-use, such as Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska New York, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia, or discussed the issue of pharmaceutical return and re-use in 2002, such as Connecticut, Montana, and Oklahoma; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the Senate concurring, that the Departments of Human Services and Health are requested to conduct a joint feasibility study on the return of unused pharmaceuticals from nursing homes for possible subsequent dispensing to indigent patients; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the directors of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health and the Governor.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Feasibility study; return of unused pharmaceuticals