STAND. COM. REP. NO. 541

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 285

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 285, 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 provide Medicaid and QUEST health plan recipients with improved access to health care services.

 

     Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Provides for telehealth services for Medicaid and QUEST patients by allowing the use of a mobile health van in counties with populations of less than two hundred fifty thousand; and

    

     (2)  Requires the mobile medical van program operated by Kona community hospital to be funded through a partnership with a non-profit mutual benefit society operating in the State.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Jennifer Diesman, Vice President, Government Relations, Hawaii Medical Service Association; Howard Lee, President, Hawaii Association of Health Plans; and one private individual.  Your Committee received comments on the measure from Patricia McManaman, Interim Director, Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee finds that it is difficult to provide adequate health care services to rural areas, particularly in remote areas of the Big Island, which has the lowest population density in the State.  Utilizing a mobile medical van to service Medicaid and QUEST members in such remote areas would provide great flexibility and faster medical attention to patients in need.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, 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. 285, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 285, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair