STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2759

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2764

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2764, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAUMA CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a trauma system special fund with a dedicated source of revenue to support the continuing development and operation of a comprehensive state trauma system, including the subsidization of documented uncompensated costs incurred by hospitals to provide trauma services and maintain on-call physicians to provide trauma care.

Your Committee understands that hospitals and physicians who provide trauma care have been absorbing significant uncompensated costs for many years. While reimbursements for trauma care from health plans, managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, and safety net programs for the uninsured have dramatically decreased, the costs of delivering trauma care have consistently increased. In Hawaii, The Queen's Medical Center incurs an annual loss of about $6,000,000 in the trauma care area. This is of concern because The Queen's Medical Center is the only trauma center in the State.

Uncompensated trauma care is also one of the primary reasons for the shortage of physicians who are willing to be on call to trauma centers. A shortage of on-call physicians jeopardizes a trauma team's ability to provide appropriate trauma care, thus exposing patients to increased risk of harm.

Your Committee finds that several states have dedicated sources of funding for their trauma funds, including surcharges tacked on to fees for drivers' licenses, motor vehicle registration renewals, and the sale, lease, or transfer of motor vehicles.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the dedicated funding amount from annual motor vehicle registration fees to an unspecified amount to facilitate further discussion;

(2) Changing the appropriation to the trauma system special fund to an unspecified amount to facilitate further discussion; and

(3) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, style, and consistency.

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. 2764, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2764, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair