Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 146 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) and St. Francis Healthcare System to continue their partnership in serving the needs of dialysis patients in the Puna District of the Island of Hawaii by expanding its network of dialysis treatment facilities to the Keaau Family Center in the Puna District.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from HHSC, St. Francis Medical Center, two dialysis patients, and two hundred sixteen individuals who signed a petition.

Your Committee finds that kidney dialysis patients spend between three to five hours for each treatment session. On the Big Island, St. Francis is currently caring for one hundred twenty-five dialysis patients at the Hilo Medical Center. However, the dialysis patients who live in the Puna District travel thirty to forty miles to receive their dialysis treatment. Expanding dialysis treatment to the Puna District would ensure the provision of this life-saving service to its residents. Your Committee also encourages St. Francis to examine the expansion of dialysis treatment facilities in other areas of the Big Island.

Your Committee has amended this measure by adding a request that the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation and St. Francis Healthcare System conduct a needs assessment that will determine the cost and requirements of establishing a dialysis center in Puna, and by amending the title accordingly.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 146, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 146, S.D. 1.