Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1094 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Hana Community Health Center.

Hawaii Primary Care Association, Hana Youth Center, Hana Community Health Center, two members of the Maui County Council, the Maui Governor's Advisory Committee, and forty individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure. Two individuals submitted testimony in opposition. The Department of Health submitted comments.

Your Committee finds that the transfer of the Hana Medical Center from the State to the Hana Community Health Center was done with a guarantee to continue to provide needed financial support for the center's essential medical programs. The Hana Community Health Center provides a hybrid of services. Unlike most clinics, it must also coordinate activities with the ambulance services and provide assistance in stabilizing patients with life-threatening illnesses or traumatic injuries. These services are required twenty-four hours a day because the center is the only health care provider in the district.

The center is located in one of the most geographically isolated areas in the State and is the healthcare lifeline for several thousand residents and the thousands of people who visit every day. As Hawaii Primary Care Association noted in its testimony, because of its size, the Hana Community Health Center will likely never grow to be more cost-effective. However, its unique status in such an isolated community requires the continued subsidy provided by this measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1094 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.