STAND. COM. REP. NO. 291

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1138
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No.
1138 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EPIDEMIOLOGIC
     INVESTIGATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to investigate an outbreak or
suspected outbreak of a disease which may threaten the public
health by:

     (1)  Increasing the Department of Health's (DOH) ability to
          investigate significant causes of illness which
          threaten the public health;

     (2)  Protecting the confidentiality of information received
          by DOH; and

     (3)  Protecting providers of this information from liability
          claims.

     DOH submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The
Hawaii Medical Association and the Hawaii Federation of
Physicians and Dentists submitted testimony in support of the
intent of this measure.  The Office of Information Practices
submitted comments.


 
 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 291
                                 Page 2

 
     Your Committee finds that this measure provides DOH with
limited access to information about increasingly important
threats to public health, such as very rare diseases, non-
infectious diseases, injuries of public health significance, and
biological or chemical terrorism.

     Your Committee appreciates the need of DOH to have access to
information to protect the public health, but is concerned that
this measure does not adequately protect patients'
confidentiality.

     To prevent full discretionary power to review patients'
medical records, your Committee has amended this measure by
limiting access to patients' records to those portions which are
directly relevant in time and scope to the disease incidence
under investigation.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
1138, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1138, H.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health,



                                   ______________________________
                                   ALEXANDER C. SANTIAGO, Chair