STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1357

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 5
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and
Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 5
entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CONVENING OF A
     STATE TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE REGULATION OF THE HEALTH
     PROFESSIONS AND REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS TO BETTER PROTECT
     HEALTH CARE CONSUMERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request that the Director
of Commerce and Consumer Affairs convene a task force to study,
report on, and make recommendations related to the regulation of
the health care professions.

     The Hawaii Medical Service Association presented testimony
in support of the measure.  The Hawaii Medical Association, while
not present, submitted testimony supporting the measure.  The
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Hawai'i
Nurses' Association presented comments on the measure.

     The Pew Health Professions Commission (Pew Commission), a
charitable trust that supports nonprofit activities, convened a
task force to explore ways to move the current health professions
regulatory system towards a system that meets consumers'
reasonable expectations of access to comprehensive, appropriate,
cost-effective, and high quality health services.  


 
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     Your Committees find that the task force's October 1998
report provides legislators and regulators with a tool to develop
a state regulatory system that meets evolving consumer protection
needs.  Therefore, this measure requests that the Director of
Commerce and Consumer Affairs convene a task force to review the
Pew Report and make recommendations for legislation.

     Your Committees find, however, that some of the statements
in this measure may be misleading in their depiction of the
current state of Hawaii's regulatory situation, and further, that
some of the sweeping reforms proposed by the Pew report are more
controversial and less practicable than others.  Accordingly,
your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the following statements:

          (A)  That the scopes of practice of some licensed
               occupations and professions are unnecessarily
               monopolistic and restrict consumers' access to
               other qualified practitioners;

          (B)  That current state requirements do not assess or
               guarantee continuing competence;

          (C)  That professional regulation is not sufficiently
               integrated or coordinated with other public and
               private consumer protection structures and
               processes;

          (D)  The Pew Commission's recommendation that states
               enact and implement scopes of practice that are
               nationally uniform for each profession, based on
               the standards and models developed by the national
               policy advisory board:

          (E)  The Pew Commission's recommendation that states
               require their regulated health care practitioners
               to demonstrate throughout their career competence
               in the knowledge, judgment, technical skills, and
               interpersonal skills relevant to their jobs; and

          (F)  The Pew Commission's recommendation that states
               standardize entry-to-practice requirements and
               limit them to competence assessments for health
               professionals in order to facilitate the physical
               and professional mobility of health professionals;


 
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     (2)  Requesting that, in addition to the Pew Report, the
          Task Force review other documents and reports related
          to the regulation of health professionals; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Health and
Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees
concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 5, as amended
herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 5,
S.D. 1.

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



____________________________       ______________________________
SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair        BRIAN KANNO, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair

 
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