Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2524 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to expedite the mandatory annual state licensing of hospitals by the Department of Health (DOH).

DOH, the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and Kaiser Permanente testified in support of this bill.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) accreditation inspection is an extremely rigorous process, in which specially trained surveyors interview hospital staff, examine documentation, make direct observations, and evaluate each health care organization's compliance with state-of-the-art standards in a variety of different areas. Since JCAHO inspections occur every three years and meet or exceed the criteria the State uses for its inspections of hospitals, the use of JCAHO inspections as evidence the hospital is meeting the licensing and inspection requirements of the State appears to be prudent. Your Committee would like to note, however, that this would only apply to years in which a JCAHO inspection occurs,since the State inspects hospitals on a yearly basis.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2524 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.