RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii has an interest in assuring healthcare for its citizens; and

WHEREAS, the social costs of untreated mental illness are incurred in increased unemployment, homelessness, domestic violence, crime, and unsafe schools, streets, and communities; and

WHEREAS, individuals with mental illness require the assistance of trained mental health professionals and appropriate mental health services to improve the quality of their lives; and

WHEREAS, recent findings indicate that mental health services are not reaching populations in rural areas, neighbor islands, and those populations with high rates of poverty and who lack insurance; and

WHEREAS, financial incentives need to be extended to physicians to treat the poor and medically uninsured in underserved areas; and

WHEREAS, a contract between the Department of Health (DOH), Adult Mental Health Division, and the University of Hawaii (UH) School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry for Public Psychiatry provided monthly compensation stipends to psychiatric residents during the residency period in return for a promise to provide psychiatric and mental health services for the Adult Mental Health Division immediately after the conclusion of the resident's residency for a period equal to the time for which the resident received a stipend; and

WHEREAS, the residents in this program served neighbor island clinics, including the mental health center on Molokai, and helped meet the needs of underserved populations and areas; and

WHEREAS, the stipends were discontinued in 1998 due to a lack of funds; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the UH School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and DOH are requested to reestablish their Psychiatric Residency Stipend Program (Stipend Program) to improve access to appropriate mental health services for underserved areas and underserved populations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the UH School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and DOH are requested to study the feasibility of adding J-1 Visa recipients to their Stipend Program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the UH School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and DOH are requested to submit a progress report on their reestablishment of the Stipend Program to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Director of Health and the Dean of the UH School of Medicine.

Report Title:

Psychiatric Residency Stipend Program