SB231

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	231
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO TELEPSYCHIATRY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the neighbor islands and parts of Oahu lack access to specialty medical care. In particular, patients have difficulty accessing psychiatric services for various reasons, including the lack of providers willing to accept medicaid or QUEST patients, lack of adequate insurance coverage, ineligibility for patient services under the department of health's mental health division, and the lack of psychiatry employment positions in rural areas. As a result, telehealth has played a more significant role in the delivery of health care in recent years.

Psychiatric assessments via telepsychiatry are reliable and, based on feedback regarding telepsychiatry services provided in Molokai by Dr. Daniel Alicata and Dr. Chad Koyanagi, patients actually preferred the interactions over video-link to on-site visits. Also, the use of telepsychiatry in the treatment of depression compares well with the outcomes, patient adherence, patient satisfaction, and costs of in-patient treatment.

The department of psychiatry at the University of Hawaii currently has a telepsychiatry project underway on Molokai and Maui. Other underserved areas are requesting similar telepsychiatry services in their communities. An important component of the project is the learning segment. Participating residents will work within the modality for a period of one to two years. The goal is to eventually increase the number of telepsychiatry providers in the private sector and to broaden the use of telepsychiatry, generally, to better serve patients statewide.

The purpose of this Act is to expand the telepsychiatry project to other underserved areas, involve advanced graduate psychiatric residents in the provision of the expanded telepsychiatry services, and appropriate funds for this purpose.

SECTION 2. (a) The University of Hawaii shall expand its existing telepsychiatry project, which is currently sited at the community clinic of Maui and Molokai general hospital, to:

(1) Include other underserved areas, including rural Kauai, Hawaii, and rural Oahu; and

(2) Enable advanced graduate psychiatry residents to provide telepsychiatry services under the supervision of faculty of the department of psychiatry.

(b) In addition, the University of Hawaii shall:

(1) Intersperse on-site visits with the provision of the telepsychiatry services; and

(2) Transmit the telepsychiatry services between the receiving sites and the department of psychiatry using video teleconferencing equipment and ISDN lines.

(c) The University of Hawaii shall submit an interim report evaluating the expanded telepsychiatry project using measurable criteria to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2008 regular session, and shall submit a final report evaluating the expanded telepsychiatry project using measurable criteria, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2009 regular session.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the University of Hawaii to expand its existing telepsychiatry project.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2009.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________