HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H. R. NO.	33
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

ENCOURAGING the counties to form partnerships with the state and private sector to cover healthcare infrastructure and overhead costs for PRIMARY CARE AND SPECIALTY PHYSICIANS PRACTICING MEDICINE in hawaii's rural areas.

     WHEREAS, many rural areas of our state especially on our Neighbor Islands have been designated as health professional shortage areas by the federal government; and

     WHEREAS, a designation as a health professional shortage area may include places with large groups of people who face economic, cultural or linguistic barriers to healthcare or where there are too many people in that geographic area to be served by the limited number of health professionals; and

     WHEREAS, there is a critical shortage of all healthcare providers on our Neighbor Islands as Hawaii rapidly loses physicians who leave to practice on the mainland for more money, and many who continue to practice in this state are aging and close to retirement; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii physicians are overly burdened by medical malpractice premiums that continue to rise sharply especially for orthopedists, general surgeons, and obstetrician/gynecologists; and

     WHEREAS, other states offer physicians better reimbursements that are adequate to sustain their practices; and

     WHEREAS, local healthcare facilities are straining to provide their physicians with fair and adequate wages in their attempts to maintain services and retain necessary staff; and

     WHEREAS, according to a study prepared by the accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP, Hawaii hospitals spent $228 million in unreimbursed funds to care for Medicare, Medicaid, and QUEST patients in 2006; and

     WHEREAS, some relief must be provided somewhere for healthcare professionals to keep them practicing in Hawaii and to encourage them to practice in the areas of the state where they are most desperately needed; and

     WHEREAS, our community health centers provide some relief for rural areas but a more comprehensive approach needs to be established to provide primary healthcare services; and

     WHEREAS, the State, counties, and private organizations have the means to support medical operations in rural areas; and

     WHEREAS, providing the necessary healthcare infrastructure and overhead costs for primary care and specialty physicians is a viable means for reducing costs associated with practicing medicine; and

     WHEREAS, state, county, and private partnerships formed to provide these infrastructure and overhead costs in rural areas would help to overcome geographic and economic barriers which plague the Neighbor Islands and ease the critical healthcare shortages they face; and

     WHEREAS, only through such a healthcare cooperative venture between the State, counties, and private entities will independent healthcare providers be able to practice medicine in rural areas of the state; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the counties of Hawaii are encouraged to form partnerships with the State and private sector to cover healthcare infrastructure and overhead costs for primary care and specialty physicians in Hawaii's rural, underserved areas; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, Mayor of the County of Maui, Mayor of the County Kauai, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Governor, Director of Health, and Executive Director of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Encouraging the counties to form partnerships with the State and private sector to cover healthcare infrastructure and overhead costs for primary care and specialty physicians practicing medicine in Hawaii's rural areas.