SCR35 SD1

WHEREAS, certain public policy changes must be made to address infrastructure deficiencies in the State of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, among the infrastructure deficiencies of great concern are the deficiencies in the availability and accessibility of care facilities and services for certain populations, including seniors, veterans, and persons with disabilities of all ages; and

WHEREAS, senior, veteran, and disability advocates have called for a shift in government emphasis from institutional to home- and community-based services; and

WHEREAS, the Maui Health Initiative Task Force and Maui Long Term Care Partnership have conducted a comprehensive needs assessment study for Maui County and have developed recommendations that have applicability statewide; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the House of Representatives concurring, that the purpose of this Concurrent Resolution is to support the efforts of the Maui Health Initiative Task Force and the Maui Long Term Care Partnership, and request that they submit the recommendations resulting from their comprehensive needs assessment to the Long Term Care Commission no later than November 1, 2008, to develop a home- and community-based model of services for Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Maui Health Initiative Task Force and Maui Long Term Care Partnership submit in their report to the Long Term Care Commission their recommendations to:

(1) Increase the number of available long-term care facility beds;

(2) Increase the number of available nursing home beds;

(3) Provide additional tax credit and real property program incentives for private sector partnerships to develop alternative long-term care facilities;

(4) Assess funding needs at the Sunrise and Lokelani Ohana programs for individuals with disabilities;

(5) Develop and fund a sixty-bed veterans skilled care facility with an in-patient psychiatric unit to offer assessment and services;

(6) Develop and fund a geriatric psychiatric unit or specialty group home;

(7) Develop and fund affordable housing units for low- and middle-income seniors and individuals with disabilities;

(8) Develop legislation based on the concept of a home- and community-based services index that would adjust annual human services funding in response to certain fluctuations in the senior and disability populations;

(9) Together with the Hawaii delegation to the United States Congress, rectify medicaid reimbursement shortfalls by seeking frontier differential rates;

(10) Address workforce shortfalls by establishing critical long-term care pay differentials;

(11) Develop the Maui community volunteer "care corps" tax credit proposal;

(12) Establish and fund a physician recruitment and retention task force to complete a "fifty state comparative study" to identify solutions for Hawaii;

(13) Replicate the Maui "care corps" model within other communities throughout the State;

(14) Establish a tax credit for individuals caring for senior family members at home;

(15) Establish and fund low-interest state revolving fund retrofit loans to modernize nursing home facilities, and support alternative care providers such as residential alternative community care, adult residential care homes, and assisted living facilities;

(16) Establish and fund home modification counseling programs that would offer low-interest retrofit loans and grants for homeowners;

(17) Establish uniform regulations and licensing procedures for home- and community-based service programs under the Department of Human Services;

(18) Assess the funding needs of the Maui Long Term Care Partnership's "saving for aging" public awareness campaign that increases public awareness of the difficulty in qualifying for medicaid and the importance of personal financial planning for long-term care;

(19) Expand and fund the Hana Aging in Place Retrofit Project as a county model for the prevention of falls among seniors;

(20) Assess the funding needs of the Department of Health's public awareness campaigns concerning disease and injury prevention services;

(21) Increase the number and type of alternative and complementary medicine options offered within Hawaii's health care system through reimbursements and privileges at all health care facilities;

(22) Establish a center on aging at Maui Community College to conduct research, education and training, policy development, and advocacy;

(23) Establish and fund a medical residency program for Maui county;

(24) Expand and fund the newly established education and training curriculum at Maui Community College;

(25) Allocate Department of Human Services nurse case management fees to assisted living facilities that employ registered nurses;

(26) Permit nursing delegation in nursing facilities as is currently done in home and community care settings;

(27) Expand oral care services;

(28) Establish a pilot central Maui "greenhouse" program to support the development of "greenhouses" and "greenhouse culture"; and

(29) Adopt terms and definitions related to home- and community-based services and long-term care in the Hawaii health performance plan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Executive Office on Aging, the Director of Health, the Director of Human Services, the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Director of the University of Hawaii Center on the Family, the Director of the University of Hawaii Center on Aging, the University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies, and the Director of the Hawaii Office of Veterans Services.

Report Title:

Long-Term Care Study

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	35
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII