Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 195, S.D. 1, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request that the state health planning and development agency identify and evaluate barriers to community-based access to specialty care, and make recommendations that would improve access to specialty care in rural areas and on the neighbor islands.

The Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Hawaii Medical Home Implementation Grant, and a concerned individual testified in support of this concurrent resolution.

Your Committee finds that the barriers to specialty health care are considerable for patients those residing on the neighbor islands and in rural parts of Oahu, and that a systemic assessment by the state health planning and development agency would provide useful and valuable information for improving community access to specialty care.

Your Committee has amended this concurrent resolution to incorporate issues of concern in the recruitment and retention of specialty care doctors.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 195, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Finance, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 195, S.D. 1, H.D. 1.