STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1143

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 170

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 170 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII STATE LEGISLATURE TO CONVENE A HAWAII HEALTH CARE SUMMIT TO DEVELOP A STRATEGIC AND COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR HEALTH CARE IN HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Hawaii State Legislature to convene a Hawaii Health Care Summit to develop a strategic and comprehensive plan for health care in Hawaii.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association of Health Plans, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Hawaii Health Information Exchange, Hawaii Primary Care Association, Kaiser Permanente, American Cancer Society, Hawaii Medical Association and the National Association of Social Workers.  The Hawaii Medical Service Association submitted testimony supporting the measure with amendments.

     Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that this measure is important to begin the process of developing an effective and comprehensive plan for sustainable health care in Hawaii.

     Your Committee further finds that in moving forward, committee members who would like to contribute to the task force should be included in its membership, and pre-summit partitions should be established to ensure that the Hawaii Health Care Summit will be as productive as possible.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that a component of the financial crisis in the medical community is that reimbursements to hospitals and physicians from private insurers are under severe economic pressure to compensate for costs shifted from government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 170, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 170, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair