REPORT TITLE:
Neurotraining Center


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a task force to identify and eliminate public policy
barriers to neurotraining services. (SB2489 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2489
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO BRAIN INJURY.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the problem of
 
 2 traumatic brain injury and its effects are serious and far
 
 3 reaching.  Injury is the leading cause of mortality among
 
 4 Americans under forty-five years of age and traumatic brain
 
 5 injury is responsible for the majority of these deaths.
 
 6 Annually, traumatic brain injury claims more than fifty-six
 
 7 thousand American lives and is the cause of hospitalization for
 
 8 an estimated three hundred seventy-three thousand Americans.  In
 
 9 Hawaii, the Hawaii health systems corporation estimates that
 
10 twelve hundred people are discharged annually from Hawaii's
 
11 hospitals with traumatic brain injury.
 
12      The impact of a traumatic brain injury can be devastating.
 
13 In children, traumatic brain injury is likely to result in
 
14 multiple functional limitations and long-term disabilities,
 
15 thereby interrupting or delaying normal development.  In addition
 
16 to physical difficulties, traumatic brain injury victims and
 
17 their families face social, emotional, and financial problems.
 
18 The average medical cost for a three to six months initial
 
19 hospitalization for a traumatic brain injury is $75,000.  The
 
20 survivor of a severe brain injury typically faces five to ten
 

 
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 1 years of intensive treatment at an estimated cost in excess of
 
 2 $4,000,000 to $7,000,000.
 
 3      The legislature further finds that neurotraining services is
 
 4 a state of the art outpatient therapy grounded in psychological
 
 5 and neurological principles that enables individuals to overcome
 
 6 and improve deficits that result from central nervous system
 
 7 dysfunctions.  Unlike other rehabilitation programs where a
 
 8 client learns to compensate for the client's deficits,
 
 9 neurotraining is categorized as "deficit-specific", which means
 
10 that attention is focused directly on identified brain function
 
11 losses.  Neurotraining emphasis is on the mental process instead
 
12 of any particular subject content, such as reading, writing, or
 
13 math.  Motivation is a key factor in this training because of its
 
14 direct approach to the difficulties faced by the client.
 
15      The legislature further finds that the Craine Institute of
 
16 Neuropsychology Community-based Healthcare is continuing the
 
17 development of neurotraining services as a private sector
 
18 initiative, and is leveraging federal, national, and local
 
19 foundation and corporate resources to make Hawaii the
 
20 neuropsychology center of the world.  The institute takes a
 
21 community-based, holistic approach that promotes participation in
 
22 activities for healthy lifestyles to increase health-affirming,
 
23 continuity of habits to reduce the risk of brain injuries from
 

 
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 1 initially occurring.  Additionally, the institute addresses the
 
 2 multi-faceted, cross-cutting issue of brain injury prevention,
 
 3 and establishes sustainable cost-effective and culturally
 
 4 relevant solutions.
 
 5      The collaboration operates on the premise that it "makes
 
 6 SENSE" (Synergy of Entrepreneurial Networks Sustained
 
 7 Effectiveness) to develop local action that has the potential to
 
 8 stimulate global improvements in education, health care, economic
 
 9 development, the environment, the arts, and any other social
 
10 sector field.  Entrepreneurial best business practices are used
 
11 to recognize problems and relentlessly pursue new viable
 
12 opportunities for private sector development.  Ultimately, the
 
13 result of neurotraining services will help an under-recognized
 
14 and underserved traumatic brain injury population achieve
 
15 outcomes consistent with their unique strengths, resources,
 
16 priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and
 
17 informed choices of the individual and their families and
 
18 caregivers.
 
19      The purpose of this Act is to establish a task force to
 
20 identify and eliminate public policy barriers to neurotraining
 
21 services.
 
22      SECTION 2.  (a)  There is established a task force in the
 
23 department of business, economic development, and tourism to
 

 
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 1 identify and eliminate public policy barriers, including
 
 2 duplication of services and pooled resources, to neurotraining
 
 3 services.
 
 4      The primary outcome objective is to nurture private sector
 
 5 provider services and cost-benefit analysis accountability that
 
 6 have national and international public policy implications for
 
 7 health care and social services self-sufficiency.  The secondary
 
 8 goal shall be to sustain, by program effectiveness, the demands
 
 9 for services addressing the needs of an under-recognized and
 
10 underserved traumatic brain injured population to live in the
 
11 least restrictive environment at their highest potential
 
12 possible.
 
13      (b)  The members of the task force shall be composed of:
 
14      (1)  The director of business, economic development, and
 
15           tourism, or the director's designee;
 
16      (2)  The director of health or the director's designee;
 
17      (3)  The director of human services or the director's
 
18           designee; and
 
19      (4)  The superintendent of education or the superintendent's
 
20           designee.
 
21      The director of human services shall serve, or designate a
 
22 person from the department of human services to serve, as the
 
23 chair of the task force.
 

 
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 1      (c)  The task force shall report its findings and
 
 2 recommendations to the legislature no later than twenty days
 
 3 prior to the convening of the regular session of 2001.
 
 4      (d)  The task force shall be repealed on June 30, 2001.
 
 5      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.