REPORT TITLE:
Medical


DESCRIPTION:
Requires certain health care providers to submit academic and
professional information to their licensing boards as matters of
public record.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        662
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL LICENSING.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that health care consumers
 
 2 are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and the demand for
 
 3 information to help guide their health care decision making has
 
 4 increased dramatically.  Hawaii recently responded to this demand
 
 5 by passing the Patients' Bill of Rights and Responsibilities Act,
 
 6 which allows consumers to access information about health plans
 
 7 previously unavailable to them and enables them to choose a
 
 8 health plan that offers benefits and services that best match
 
 9 their health care needs.  Because health care providers, not
 
10 health plans, deliver care to consumers, more information must be
 
11 made available to allow consumers to choose the best provider for
 
12 them.  Aside from board certification, the patients' bill of
 
13 rights did not require the disclosure of any information about
 
14 the qualifications or experience of health care providers.
 
15 Choosing a provider is one of the most important health care
 
16 decisions a consumer can make, yet there is no easily accessible
 
17 relevant information about health care providers available to the
 
18 public.  The legislature declares that it is the State's policy
 
19 to support the right of consumers to have essential information
 

 
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 1 to allow them to make better-informed health care decisions when
 
 2 selecting their health care providers.  Forty states have
 
 3 mandated the collection, analysis, and public distribution of
 
 4 health care data.
 
 5      The purpose of this Act is to continue where the patients'
 
 6 bill of rights left off, promoting consumer protection in health
 
 7 care by requiring all providers to submit to their respective
 
 8 licensing boards specific information which the boards will make
 
 9 available to the public, upon request.
 
10      SECTION 2.  Chapter 436B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
11 amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and
 
12 to read as follows:
 
13       "PART   .  PHYSICIAN INFORMATION TO ENSURE QUALITY
 
14      §436B-A  Definitions.  As used in this part:
 
15      "Board" or "licensing board" means the board of the
 
16 provider.
 
17      "Provider" means any of the following:
 
18      (1)  A chiropractor licensed under chapter 442;
 
19      (2)  A dentist licensed under chapter 448;
 
20      (3)  A physician or surgeon licensed under chapter 453;
 
21      (4)  An optometrist licensed under chapter 459;
 
22      (5)  An osteopathic physician or surgeon licensed under
 
23           chapter 460;
 

 
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 1      (6)  A podiatrist licensed under chapter 463E; and
 
 2      (7)  A psychologist licensed under chapter 465.
 
 3      §436B-B  Provider information requirement.(a)  In addition
 
 4 to any other information that may be required from an applicant,
 
 5 each person who applies for initial licensure as a provider or
 
 6 who applies for license renewal as a provider, must submit to
 
 7 their respective licensing boards at the time of application, all
 
 8 the following information for an individual provider profile,
 
 9 which shall be made available for dissemination to the public:
 
10      (1)  Names of professional schools attended and dates of
 
11           graduation;
 
12      (2)  Graduate professional education;
 
13      (3)  Number of years in practice;
 
14      (4)  Specialty board certification;
 
15      (5)  Type of practice for the most recent ten years;
 
16      (6)  Names of the hospitals where the licensee has
 
17           privileges;
 
18      (7)  Appointments to medical school faculties and indication
 
19           as to whether a licensee has a responsibility for
 
20           graduate medical education within the most recent ten
 
21           years;
 
22      (8)  Information regarding publications in peer-reviewed
 
23           medical literature within the most recent ten years;
 

 
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 1      (9)  Information regarding professional or community service
 
 2           activities and awards;
 
 3     (10)  Location of the licensee's primary practice setting;
 
 4     (11)  Indication of whether the licensee participates in
 
 5           Medicaid, Medicare, and QUEST programs;
 
 6     (12)  Percentage of ownership interest provider has in other
 
 7           health facilities, laboratories, equipment, or therapy,
 
 8           except for ownership interest in the primary practice
 
 9           business, to which the provider's patients are, have
 
10           been, or may be referred;
 
11     (13)  A description of any criminal convictions for felonies
 
12           and misdemeanors within the most recent ten years;
 
13     (14)  A description of any charges to which a provider pleads
 
14           nolo contendere or where sufficient facts of guilt
 
15           where found and the matter was continued without a
 
16           finding by a court of competent jurisdiction;
 
17     (15)  Temporary restraining orders issued;
 
18     (16)  Description of any final board disciplinary action
 
19           within the most recent ten year;
 
20     (17)  A description of any final disciplinary actions by
 
21           licensing boards in other states within the most recent
 
22           ten years;
 
23     (18)  Limitations on practice ordered by the board;
 

 
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 1     (19)  Public letters of reprimand issued;
 
 2     (20)  Description of revocation or involuntary restriction of
 
 3           hospital privileges, or a reduction in privileges for
 
 4           more than one hundred eighty days, from any states, for
 
 5           reasons related to competence or character after
 
 6           procedural due process has been afforded;
 
 7     (21)  Whether the provider has ever been sanctioned by the
 
 8           federal government within the most recent ten years;
 
 9     (22)  Whether the provider carries professional malpractice
 
10           insurance, and if yes, what kind of insurance;
 
11     (23)  Whether the provider has ever been denied malpractice
 
12           insurance for other than inactive status of license or
 
13           part-time practice; and
 
14     (24)  All final medical malpractice court judgments and all
 
15           final medical malpractice arbitration awards in excess
 
16           of $3,000 in which a payment is awarded to a
 
17           complaining party during the most recent ten years and
 
18           all settlements of medical malpractice claims in which
 
19           a payment is made to a complaining party within the
 
20           most ten years.  Nothing in this section shall be
 
21           construed to prevent the board from investigating and
 
22           disciplining a licensee on the basis of medical
 
23           malpractice claims that are pending.
 

 
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 1      (b)  In addition to the information required in subsection
 
 2 (a), the provider must include a statement, signed under oath,
 
 3 attesting to the correctness and completeness of the information
 
 4 contained in the profile.
 
 5      (c)  Each provider must update the information mandated in
 
 6 subsection (a)(13) to (24) in writing by notifying the board
 
 7 within forty-five days after the occurrence of an event.
 
 8      (d)  Each provider shall update all other information
 
 9 mandated in subsection (a) in an annual statement, signed under
 
10 oath, attesting to the correctness and completeness of the
 
11 information contained in the updated profile.
 
12      (e)  The provider may submit an appropriate explanatory
 
13 statement to be included with any information released.
 
14      §436B-C  Discipline.  Failure to comply with the
 
15 requirements of section 436B-B shall constitute grounds for
 
16 disciplinary action under section 436B-18.
 
17      §436B-D  Public dissemination of information.(a)  The
 
18 boards shall collect the provider information and submit it to
 
19 the director, who shall create a data repository and make the
 
20 provider information available in written form, upon request, and
 
21 electronically, where available, to the public for dissemination.
 
22      (b)  The boards may formulate appropriate disclaimers or
 
23 explanatory statements to be included with any information
 

 
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 1 released by the director."
 
 2      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.
 
 3 
 
 4                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________