STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3054

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1752

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1752, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide quality, cost-effective health care for Hawaii residents who are uninsured, newly uninsured, underinsured, potential Medicaid enrollees, or Medicaid enrollees by appropriating funds to:

     (1)  Provide direct health care for the uninsured and underinsured;

     (2)  Restore basic adult dental benefits to Medicaid enrollees;

     (3)  Provide outreach and eligibility services, including Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program eligibility, for children, families, and individuals at federally qualified health centers;

     (4)  Establish health care homes in Medicaid as provided in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act;

     (5)  Establish health care homes for Medicaid enrollees at federally qualified community health centers as provided in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and

     (6)  Provide behavioral health services at federally qualified community health centers.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Governor, Department of Health, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Hawaii Primary Care Association, Ho‘ola Lahui Hawaii, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Community Alliance for Mental Health, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Human Services.

     Your Committees find that community health centers serve the State's uninsured, underinsured, and low-income population, in addition to one-fourth of the State's Medicaid members, through a patient-centered delivery system.  In 2012, community health centers saved the health care system $182,000,000 by providing timely, effective care and care management that reduced unnecessary emergency room, inpatient, and specialty utilization.  Your Committees further find that funding is needed to synchronize the trajectory of community health center growth with Hawaii's implementation of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  It is in the State's interest to ensure access to primary, behavioral, dental, and preventative health care for all of its residents.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding language to clarify that the appropriation of funds to provide direct health care for uninsured and underinsured individuals is for patients at community health centers;

     (2)  Substituting the phrase "health homes" for the phrase "health care homes" throughout the measure;

     (3)  Clarifying that funds from the community health centers special fund be appropriated to the Department of Health then transferred to the Department of Human Services because, pursuant to section 321-1.65, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the community health centers special fund must be administered and expended by the Department of Health; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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 H.B. No. 1752, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1752, H.D. 1, 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