REPORT TITLE:
Neurotraining Center


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a task force to identify and eliminate public policy
barriers to neurotraining services.  Establishes a community-
based neurotraining research, education, and training
infrastructure.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2489
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
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 Traumatic brain injury claims more than fifty-six thousand
 
 7 American lives annually and is the cause of hospitalization for
 
 8 an estimated three hundred seventy-three thousand Americans
 
 9 annually.  In Hawaii, the Hawaii health systems corporation
 
10 estimates that twelve hundred people are discharged annually from
 
11 Hawaii's 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
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

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

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

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

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

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

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           designee.
 
 2      The director of human services shall designate a person from
 
 3 the department of human services to serve as the chair of the
 
 4 task force.
 
 5      (c)  The task force shall report its findings and
 
 6 recommendations to the legislature no later than twenty days
 
 7 prior to the convening of the regular session of 2001.
 
 8      (d)  The task force shall be repealed on June 30, 2001.
 
 9      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
10 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $400,000, or so much
 
11 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, to
 
12 establish a community-based neurotraining research, education,
 
13 and training infrastructure as a niche human services diversified
 
14 economic development strategy for local and global situations;
 
15 provided that funds shall be released on the basis of $1 of
 
16 general revenues for every $4 of revenues received from the
 
17 private sector.
 
18      The sum shall be used to leverage national, local, and
 
19 federal grant funds and in-kind resources for the private sector
 
20 development to stimulate the economy and to show.
 
21      The sum shall be expended by the department of business,
 
22 economic development, and tourism for the purposes of this Act.
 
23      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.