STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1642

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.C.R. No. 105
                                     H.D. 2




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which
was referred H.C.R. No. 105, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE PATIENTS' BILL
     OF RIGHTS TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE ADVISABILITY AND
     FEASIBILITY OF CREATING A DATA BANK WITH PROVIDER
     INFORMATION FOR ACCESS BY HEALTH CARE CONSUMERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution is to request the
task force established by Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998,
to study the advisability and feasibility of creating a data bank
with provider information for access by health care consumers.

     The Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) and the Hawaii
Nurses' Association (HNA) testified in support of this concurrent
resolution.  The Insurance Commissioner of the Department of
Commerce and Consumer Affairs stated a willingness to participate
in the study requested by this concurrent resolution.  The Hawaii
Medical Association opposed this concurrent resolution,
indicating its serious reservations about the kinds of
information that would be included in a data bank, which could be
extremely misleading as to a physician's degree of competency or
skill.

     HMSA testified that the selection of a health care provider
is an important decision for a consumer, but that in Hawaii,
there is no easily accessible source of information about the
level of skill, education, experiences, and other relevant

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1642
                                 Page 2

 
qualifications of health care providers.  HMSA stated that Hawaii
is one of only ten states that does not have some type of public
distribution of provider performance data.  HNA testified that
the concurrent resolution would allow the systematic review and
development of a bank of pertinent data for consumers that would
reflect privacy concerns.

     Your Committee has amended this concurrent resolution by
making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style
and clarity.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to
this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose
of H.C.R. No. 105, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that
it be referred to the Committee on Finance, in the form attached
hereto as H.C.R. No. 105, H.D. 2.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   RON MENOR, Chair