STAND. COM. REP. NO. 937-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 2608
S.D. 1
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2608, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to make permanent:
(1) The methodology for payments to critical access hospitals using Medicare reasonable cost principles; and
(2) Exemption of critical access hospitals from Medicaid reimbursement equity, by repealing the sunset date of the Act in which these provisions were first adopted.
The Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and Hawaii Government Employees Association supported this bill. The Department of Health and Department of Human Services supported this bill with amendments.
Your Committees find that the designation of a hospital as a critical access hospital allows greater flexibility in operating requirements and increases Medicare payments, which helps to ensure the fiscal viability of hospitals in rural and remote areas.
Your Committees have amended this bill by:
(1) Extending the sunset date of the payment methodology for critical access hospitals to June 30, 2006; and
(2) Making permanent the provision that exempts critical access hospitals from Medicaid reimbursement equity.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2608, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2608, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing,
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____________________________ MICHAEL PUAMAMO KAHIKINA, Chair |
____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair |
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