STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1174-12

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

 

RE:   S.B. No. 2166

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2166, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAID,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the State's medicaid and children's health insurance programs.  Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Establishes the Health Insurance Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Task Force within the Department of Human Services to develop strategies and coordinate efforts to reduce medicaid fraud and abuse, including detecting fraud before payments are made;

 

     (2)  Specifies that the Director of Human Services shall appoint the members of the task force without regard to  the selection and terms of members of boards and commissions, pursuant to section 26-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

 

     (3)  Requires the Health Insurance Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Task Force to submit a report to the 2013 Legislature.

 

     The Department of Human Services opposed the measure.

 

     Your Committees note that the Department of Human Services testified that a Health Insurance Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Task Force is not needed, and that the task force would consume valuable resources in a time of staffing shortages and budget constraints.  The Department of Human Services reported that implementing a task force would cost upwards of $250,000.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing the provision that establishes the Health Insurance Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Task Force;

 

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to submit to the Legislature before the Regular Session of 2013 a report of its strategies, efforts, and progress on detecting and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse in the State's medicaid and children's insurance programs; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2166, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2166, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,

 

 

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair

 

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair