STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1661

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.C.R. No. 216

       H.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 216, H.D. 1, entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE CONVENING OF A TASK FORCE TO ESTABLISH A STROKE SYSTEM OF CARE IN THE STATE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the Department of Health to convene a task force to establish a stroke system of care in the State that includes a statewide stroke database and registry by December 31, 2015, among other things, and to report to the Legislature on findings and recommendations with an initial report by December 31, 2013, and a final report before the Regular Session of 2015.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, Stroke Center at The Queen's Medical Center, and Hawaii Pacific Health.

     Your Committees find that stroke is the leading cause of chronic disability among adults in the State.  Rapid identification, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke can improve outcomes for stroke patients.  Hawaii needs an effective system to support the rapid assessment and triage of stroke patients and provide appropriate stroke treatment in a timely manner.  A

stroke system of care will improve the overall care of stroke patients, increase patients' chances of survival, and decrease the incidence of long-term disabilities associated with stroke.  Such a system of care is recommended in Hawaii's Plan for the Prevention of Heart Disease and Stroke, issued by the Department of Health in November 2011.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 216, H.D. 1, and recommend its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Ways and Means,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair