Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 763 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the payment of a flat fee to a physician who serves on an external review panel that reviews health coverage disputes.

The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs testified in support of this measure. The Hawaii Medical Service Association presented comments on the measure.

The Patients' Bill of Rights and Responsibilities Act, codified in chapter 432E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, established external review panels to review health coverage disputes. The three-member panels include a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State. Participation on the panel requires physicians to take time off from their medical practices for anywhere from four to eight hours, and this loss of work time is a disincentive for participation.

This measure establishes an incentive for a physician to serve by authorizing payment of a flat $400 fee. Your Committee finds that this fee will help to encourage broader participation by the medical community and promote more diverse representation on the panels. Your Committee further finds that, with typically fewer than twenty-five hearings scheduled per year, the total annual cost of the fee payment is not expected to exceed $10,000.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making a technical, stylistic change.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 763, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 763, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.