STAND. COM. REP. NO. 201

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 117

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 117 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for direct health care, including primary medical, dental, and behavioral services, for uninsured and underinsured residents of the State.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Ho‘ōla Lāhui Hawai‘i, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, The Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Primary Care Association, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

     Your Committees find that community health centers serve uninsured, underinsured, low-income patient populations with demographic complexities and co-morbidities, in addition to one-fourth of the State's Medicaid members, and many of the State's homeless individuals and families.

     Your Committees further find that community health centers save the health care system $1,263 per patient per year due to timely, effective care and care management that reduce unnecessary emergency room, in-patient, and specialty utilization, which translated to savings of more than $90,000,000 for Hawaii's Medicaid program in 2013.  Community health centers are a smart investment that result in healthier communities while saving the State money.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the appropriation in this measure is for direct health care for the uninsured and underinsured patients at community health centers; and

     (2)  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 Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 117, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 117, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair