STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1407

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 153

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 153 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO REVIEW AND ANALYZE ALL ORAL HEALTH INITIATIVES CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN THE STATE, INCLUDING THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL PROGRAM, AND PREPARE A PROGRESS REPORT ON EACH INITIATIVE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Health to conduct a comprehensive analysis of oral health initiatives in the State.

 

Specifically, this measure requests the Department of Health to:

 

(1)  Review, analyze, and prepare a progress report on each oral health initiative underway in the State, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and oral health disease prevention program;

 

(2)  Report on its progress in developing a comprehensive state oral health care assessment program;

 

(3)  Provide a comprehensive accounting of public and private sector matching funds that the State has received in the area of oral health; and

 

(4)  Submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature for the Regular Session of 2016.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Hawaii Primary Care Association.  Written comments on the measure were received from the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committee finds that the health care research indicates that an association exists between chronic oral infections experienced early in life and complicated and costly medical conditions experienced later in life, such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, strokes, and low-birth-weight births.  Accordingly, your Committee believes that it is more cost-effective to provide timely oral health early in an individual's life to avoid or minimize the need to treat more costly and complicated medical conditions that occur later in life.

 

     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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 153 and recommends its adoption.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair