STAND. COM. REP. NO. 932

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 597

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 597, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to expand the definition of "quality assurance committee" to include interdisciplinary quality assurance committees composed of members from various health care organizations.  The intent of this measure is to establish that the proceedings and records of interdisciplinary quality assurance committees composed of members from various health care organizations have similar protections as those committees formed by hospitals, health maintenance organizations, and statewide trauma care systems.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from The Queen's Medical Center and Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

     Your Committee acknowledges that robust discussion leads to changes in health care policies, procedures, or practices and, in order to encourage such robust discussions, there is a need to protect peer review and quality assurance discussions on health care from their potential use in medical malpractice lawsuits.  Your Committee heard concerns regarding the impact that this measure may have on discoverable information.  Your Committee asserts that this measure does not seek to change discovery rules; rather, the goal of this measure is to encourage collaborative discussions regarding health care policies, procedures, and practices.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2030, to allow for further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 597, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 597, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair