STAND. COM. REP. NO. 298

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1336

       S.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 Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1336 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to designate the Kahuku Medical Center as a rural health clinic and critical access hospital.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Kahuku Medical Center, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Ko‘olauloa Community Health and Wellness Center, Inc.

     Your Committees find that rural hospitals are essential components of the State's health care system.  Maintaining acute, long-term, and emergency services in areas like the North Shore of Oahu is essential to ensure access to health care among community residents and timely access to emergent care for visitors.  The loss of Kahuku Medical Center's designation as a critical access hospital would endanger its ability to provide these services to residents and visitors on the North Shore.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by clarifying that this measure designates Kahuku Medical Center as a rural hospital, rather than as a rural health clinic and critical access hospital.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1336, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1336, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair