STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1495

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.C.R. No. 55

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 55 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES TO INCREASE REIMBURSEMENT TO HAWAII PROVIDERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to increase reimbursement to Hawaii providers.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Hawaii Medical Service Association.  Written testimony presented to your Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements are established according to fee schedules, which are adjusted according to a set of geographic practice cost indices.  However, the geographic practices cost indices for the State of Hawaii are determined based upon the locality of Hawaii and Guam.  By including Hawaii and Guam as a single locality, the indices may not accurately reflect the costs incurred by Hawaii doctors.  Your Committees find that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, upon its next periodic review of the geographic cost indices, should consider establishing Hawaii as a locality separate from Guam.

     Your Committees have amended this measure and its title by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 55, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 55, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair