RESOLUTION

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

WHEREAS, the social costs of untreated mental illness are paid 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 in order to improve the quality of their lives; and

WHEREAS, recent findings indicate that mental health services are not reaching populations in rural areas and 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 under-served areas; and

WHEREAS, a contract between the Adult Mental Health Division (AMHD) and the University of Hawaii, 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 AMHD 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 under-served populations and areas; and

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

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that representatives from the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health and the Adult Mental Health Division, the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Hawaii Psychological Association, and the Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association collaborate with each other in a working group to bring additional psychiatric services to under-served areas and populations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group focus on initiatives, such as the psychiatric residency stipend program and J-1 visa waivers, that will improve access to appropriate mental health services for under-served areas and populations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to convene the working group and provide administrative support; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to submit a report of the working group's progress, including any recommendations regarding the psychiatric residency stipend program, J-1 visa waivers, and other initiatives to the Legislature no later than twenty 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 the Director of Human Services, the Director of Health, the Chief of the Adult Mental Health Division, the Dean of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Hawaii Psychological Association, and the Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association.

Report Title:

Establishing a Working Group to Bring Additional Psychiatric Services to Under-served Areas and Populations.