STAND. COM. REP. NO. 670

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1468

       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. 1468, 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 improve the Medicaid health care system by delivering comprehensive, integrated, and holistic health care services to patients, including preventive and lifestyle health services.

 

     Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Establishes the Hawaii Patient Centered Health Home pilot program within the Medicaid program; and

 

     (2)  Creates the temporary Hawaii Medicaid Modernization and Innovation Council to design and implement the pilot program.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Jennifer Diesman, Vice President, Government Relations, Hawaii Medical Service Association; Morris Mitsunaga, MD, President, Hawaii Medical Association; Beth Giesting, Chief Executive Officer, Hawaii Primary Care Association; Dan Domizio, Clinical Director and Chief Executive Officer, Puna Community Medical Center; Diana V. Shaw, Executive Director, Lanai Community Health Center; Barbara Kualii, Clinical Quality Improvement Coordinator, Bay Clinic, Inc.; Kauila Clark, Chair-elect, National Association of Community Health Centers; May Akamine, Waimanalo Health Center; and one private individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the measure from Patricia McManaman, Interim Director, Department of Human Services.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from Gordon Ito, State Insurance Commissioner, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; and Ohana Health Plan.

 

     Your Committee finds that patient-centered health homes embody a comprehensive approach to health care, improving the individual experience of care, reducing per capita costs for care, and improving the overall health in populations where the homes are located.  This comprehensive approach differs from the traditional delivery of health care by moving patient treatment away from acute, incident-based care, toward a more proactive, wellness-oriented patient behavior paradigm.

 

     Establishing the Hawaii Patient Centered Health Home pilot program and the Hawaii Medicaid Modernization and Innovation Council will improve the Medicaid health care system of Hawaii and help health care providers to deliver comprehensive, integrated, and holistic health care services to patients.

 

     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 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. 1468, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1468, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair