STAND. COM. REP. NO.  340

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   H.B. No. 326

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 326 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure for two years that Medicaid and QUEST health plans have the flexibility to provide appropriate health services through various means by specifying that:

     (1)  A health plan under the Department of Human Services' (DHS) Medicaid or QUEST program does not require:

          (A)  Approval to deliver services using a telehealth service; or

          (B)  In-person visits to qualify any telehealth service for coverage;

     (2)  DHS does not require the mobile medical van program operating in a county with a population of less than 250,000 people and operated by Kona Community Hospital will be funded through a partnership with a non-profit mutual benefit society operating in the State that provides health care coverage to at least 600,000 members.

     This measure also defines "telehealth."

     The Hawaii Medical Service Association, Kona Community Hospital, and the Hawaii Association of Health Plans testified in support of this bill.  DHS opposed this measure.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

     (1)  Correcting a drafting error that inadvertently implied that DHS will not require the mobile medical van program to be funded through a partnership; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 326, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 326, 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,

____________________________ JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair

____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair