HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	239
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the Legislative Reference Bureau to conduct a study on the potential financial and economic impact to the State and the State's healthcare system of providing care for patients with chronic kidney disease at all five stages.

     WHEREAS, chronic kidney disease is a potentially fatal disease that may affect all age groups, and its progression is divided into five stages; and

     WHEREAS, patients at the last stage of chronic kidney disease, also called end stage renal disease, require dialysis or kidney transplantation; and

     WHEREAS, the cost of treatment and care for patients with end stage renal disease is much higher than for patients who are in the earlier stages of chronic kidney disease; and

     WHEREAS, it is estimated that ten per cent of Hawaii's population, or one hundred thousand individuals, have a form of chronic kidney disease, and two thousand of these patients have end stage renal disease; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's percentage of the population with end stage renal disease is higher than the rest of the country, and the number of these patients is also increasing at a higher rate than the rest of the country; and

     WHEREAS, it is estimated that the current costs for caring for end stage renal disease patients in Hawaii is $125,000,000, and that costs is projected to reach $144,000,000 by 2011; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to conduct a study on the potential financial and economic impact to the State and the State's healthcare system of providing care for patients with chronic kidney disease at all five stages; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau, in preparing the study, is requested to consult with and utilize data available from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii chapter of the National Kidney Foundation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the President of the University of Hawaii, the Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, and the Executive Director of the Hawaii Chapter of the National Kidney Foundation.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Chronic Kidney Disease