STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1018

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 25

       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 S.C.R. No. 25 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PAIN AND PALLIATIVE CARE POLICY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Board of Nursing to develop and implement a pain and palliative care policy to ensure that knowledgeable, ethical, and experienced pain management practitioners administer opiates for severe acute pain or severe chronic pain under safe conditions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Chapter, American Physical Therapy Association; American Cancer Society Hawai‘i Pacific, Inc.; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; and one private citizen.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Board of Nursing, Hawaii Medical Association, and Hawaii Society of Anesthesiologists.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from Kaiser Permanente and St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that the inadequate treatment of severe acute pain and severe chronic pain originating from cancer or noncancerous conditions is a significant health problem and the State has an interest in developing a standard of care with respect to palliative care to help alleviate these problems associated with pain management.  Your Committee suggests that representatives of the medical field, including primary care physicians, anesthesiologists, nurses, and other medical practitioners, be included in the assessment in order to better evaluate current and prevailing recommendations regarding a pain and palliative care policy.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency. 

     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. 25, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 25, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair