HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	349
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF MEDICAL TORT REFORM ON ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE.

     WHEREAS, medical malpractice insurance premium rates, particularly in certain medical specialties, increased rapidly in some states beginning in the late 1990s after several years of relative stability; and

     WHEREAS, physicians are reported to respond to rising premiums in any number of ways, such as leaving states with high increases, retiring, and reducing or eliminating certain high-risk services; and

     WHEREAS, if these provider actions are indeed occurring, this could limit consumer access to health care and pose a significant problem for states like Hawaii that already face a doctor shortage in certain areas; and

     WHEREAS, the United States Government Accountability Office has found that rising medical malpractice premiums have contributed to localized health care access problems in some states; and

     WHEREAS, in an effort to mitigate rising medical malpractice insurance premium rates, states have passed various medical tort reform laws, some of which include caps to restrict the size of damage award payments and other measures to limit costs; and

     WHEREAS, in working towards the goal of ensuring consumer access to affordable, quality health care in this State, it is necessary to obtain an understanding of how rising medical malpractice premiums might affect access to health care and the practice of medicine on the whole by looking at states with varying medical tort reform laws and examining available data in Hawaii; 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 study the effects of medical tort reform on access to health care and to submit a report of its findings to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to review available information concerning the benefits and burdens to states that have adopted medical tort reform, or medical liability reform, and to include in its report:

     (1)  Trends over time of physician relocation into or away from rural and shortage areas in those states and in states without liability limitations;

     (2)  Changes in the number of specialist physicians entering or leaving in those states and in states without liability limitations; and

     (3)  Increases or decreases in malpractice insurance premium rates for physicians in those states and in states without liability limitations and associated causes since the first medical malpractice insurance crisis in the 1970s; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is also requested to include in its report:

     (1)  An analysis of the Hawaii Medical Claim Conciliation Panel, established under part II of chapter 671, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

     (2)  Changes in the number of specialist physicians currently practicing in Hawaii;

     (3)  Trends over time of specialist physicians entering or leaving the neighbor islands and the state and their reasons for entering or leaving; and

     (4)  To the extent obtainable, the current compensation and medical malpractice insurance costs for physicians in Hawaii, contrasted with physicians in other states; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that stakeholders including, but not limited to, the Hawaii Medical Association, Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii, the Hawaii Insurance Commissioner, insurance companies, medical centers, and consumer groups, are requested to assist and cooperate with the Legislative Reference Bureau as it studies the effects of medical tort reform on access to health care; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Acting Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Director of Health, the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Executive Director of the Hawaii Medical Association, the Executive Director of the Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii, and the Insurance Commissioner, who in turn is requested to transmit copies to all insurers who insure against medical malpractice claims in Hawaii.

Report Title: 

Legislative Reference Bureau; Medical Tort Reform