STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1223-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   S.B. No. 3257

      S.D. 3

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services & Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 3257, S.D. 3, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAID PRESUMPTIVE ELIGIBILITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to remove regulatory and government mandates that create barriers to transferring waitlisted patients by directing that the Department of Human Services (DHS) make a preliminary or "presumptive determination" to authorize medical assistance in the interval between the application for assistance and the final Medicaid eligibility determination.

     The Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Kaiser Permanente, The Queen's Medical Center, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Hawaii Pacific Health, and the Hawaii Business Roundtable supported this bill.  DHS opposed this measure.

     Your Committees heard testimony from DHS stating that beginning March 1, 2008, it had implemented a five-day expedited process to determine eligibility of hospital waitlisted patients for QUEST or Medicaid coverage.  It is the intention of your Committees to hold an informational briefing in April to hear more from DHS on how well this new program is working in providing waitlisted patients with proper coverage.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1)  Removing a provision setting the number of days by which a patient had to provide proof of various qualifications to be presumptively eligible for Medicaid coverage;

(2)  Requiring proof of verification of assets as one of the qualifications to be presumptively eligible for Medicaid coverage;

(3)  Requiring that on the same day on which DHS receives an application, notification be provided by DHS to an applicant and the facility the applicant is being treated in;

(4)  Specifying that the applicant must submit any remaining documents necessary to qualify for Medicaid or QUEST coverage within ten business days after the determination of presumptive eligibility;

(5)  Requiring DHS to inform the person applying for Medicaid or QUEST coverage of the applicant's eligibility within five business days upon receiving the completed application;

(6)  Inserting an appropriation of $200,000; and

(7)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services & Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3257, S.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3257, S.D. 3, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services & Housing,

____________________________ MAILE SHIMABUKURO, Chair

____________________________ JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair