STAND. COM. REP. NO. 613

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1783

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 1783 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYEE CARE SYSTEMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Establish a system of coordinated care to provide medical care, services, and supplies to injured workers; and

(2) Establish a task force attached to and including the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, to assess and report on the quality of care provided and cost-effectiveness of the employee care systems.

The ILWU Local 142, and Outrigger Hotels testified in support of this bill. Kaiser Permanente testified in support of the intent of the bill. The Hawaii Chapter American Physical Therapy Association, and CorVel Corporation testified in opposition to this bill. The Department of Human Resources Development, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and Employers' Chamber of Commerce provided comments.

Your Committee finds that this bill provides a coordinated care approach which combines provisions addressing a number of divisive issues relating to workers' compensation, including:

(1) Employee choice in physician selection;

(2) Participation by mutual agreement of employer and employees;

(3) Procedure for the selection of an independent medical examination for good cause;

(4) The provision of nurse case managers to guide care of injured workers;

(5) The provision of temporary total disability benefits without the current three-day waiting period to incentive employee participation;

(6) The creation of workplace health and safety committees to improve worker safety and minimize injuries; and

(7) The establishment of a task force to assess and report on the quality of care and cost-effectiveness afforded by employee care systems.

Your Committee believes this bill merits serious consideration as a reasoned approach to addressing the problems of rising medical costs and the maintenance of quality care in the workers' compensation program and has amended the bill by:

    1. Deleting section 386-E (Registration Fee), based on oral testimony from medical providers who stated that the $10,000 registration fee required under this bill would act as a disincentive to the creation of employee care systems;
    2. Amending section 386-H, of the bill to provide for payment of temporary total disability benefits to injured employees without the current three-day waiting period; and
    3. Amending section 386-31, to comport with the elimination of the three-day waiting period under this program.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1783, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1783, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

 

____________________________

KIRK CALDWELL, Chair