STAND. COM. REP. NO. 574

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 588

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 588 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NONGOVERNMENT HEALTH PLAN PAYMENTS TO CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS AND FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to enhance the federal Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program and federally qualified health centers by requiring health plans other than government payers licensed to do business in Hawaii to reimburse critical access hospitals at one hundred and one per cent of costs, consistent with Medicare, and to reimburse federally qualified health centers at prospective payment system rates.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, and the Hawaii Primary Care Association.  The Hawaii Medical Association supports the measure with amendments.  Your Committees received testimony supporting the intent of the measure from Hawaii Medical Service Association. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by Summerlin Life & Health Insurance Company.

 

     Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that rural hospitals and federally qualified health centers in Hawaii have been losing money at alarming rates over the past several years.  These facilities provide necessary care to the community.  Your Committees find that ensuring the viability of these facilities is crucial and requires that payment for services is adequate, at a minimum.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 588, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 588, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair