Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 3257 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the licensing of home care agencies.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. Comments were received from the Department of Health (DOH).

This measure defines a home health care agency as any organization that provides home care services to clients in the client's home. With the aging of the population and the preference to age in place, home health care agencies are an important component in the continuum of health care provision. Your Committees find that home health care agencies should be licensed by the DOH to ensure that patients are safely and adequately cared for in their homes.

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 are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3257 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.