RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the cost of medical care is rising rapidly in addition to a growing shortage of health care providers and health programs; and

WHEREAS, the demand for more health services is growing because of our aging population and the development of new technologies; and

WHEREAS, an unfortunate prediction, yet a real danger, is that soon health needs will only be met for those who can afford to pay for them; and

WHEREAS, historically, some basic health services were "guaranteed" to everyone in society for public health and ethical reasons, yet economic pressures could eliminate these essential health care services for those in the greatest need of them; and

WHEREAS, the most important aspect of health planning today is to prioritize all health programs, especially the guaranteed services, and focus on streamlining and prioritizing issues to ensure the availability of the most important health services; and

WHEREAS, a proactive method should be used to select the right health care program based on comparisons among the different issues that concern individual communities and the identification of the best solutions for those individual communities; and

WHEREAS, a valuable process would be to always compare cost (input) to effectiveness or benefits (output); and

WHEREAS, "health economics" is a discipline that always projects and evaluates what input or resources need to be placed into a project to gain the necessary output, and the efficiency with which these outcomes are achieved; and

WHEREAS, the concept of health economics differs somewhat from regular business investment/return strategies because it focuses on cost aversion or savings, rather than profits, and more importantly, looks at savings for the entire community; and

WHEREAS, the health economics approach specifically incorporates an analysis of:

and

WHEREAS, all things being equal, the bigger and quicker the savings for what is invested in a project should establish the greater priority assigned to that project; and

WHEREAS, it is important that we now consider principles of health economics and through common parameters be able to compare the different programs and approaches so that prioritization would have a more objective and rational justification; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Health (DOH) is the central state agency involved in planning statewide health programs and would be in the best position with the greatest amount of appropriate resources at this time to initiate a health economics-based planning program; 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 DOH and key state and county personnel involved in the evaluation and initiation of health programs be educated on the principles of health economics and determine the suitability of incorporating this approach in their evaluations and decision-making; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DOH is requested to conduct an informational workshop for state legislators and the general public prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006, on the health economics planning method to further disseminate knowledge of this system of decision-making; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, Mayor of the County of Hawaii, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Mayor of the County of Kauai, and Mayor of the County of Maui.

Report Title:

EDUCATION OF STATE AND COUNTY OFFICIALS IN HEALTH ECONOMICS