STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1182-16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

RE:   S.B. No. 2317

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2317, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to improve the State's knowledge of risk factors for child and maternal deaths.

     Specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Requires the Director of Health (Director) to submit annual reports to the Legislature on child death and maternal death reviews;

     (2)  Requires medical facilities to provide information relating to maternal and perinatal deaths to the Department of Health (Department), Hawaii Medical Association, or in-hospital staff committees, and to immunize them from liability for providing the information; and

     (3)  Appropriates funds for the Department to conduct child death reviews and to implement a program for the performance of maternal death reviews.

Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii; Hawaii Children's Action Network; Hawaii State Democratic Caucus; Kaiser Permanente Hawaii; Hawaii Public Health Association; Kapiolani Child Protection Center; Hawaii Medical Association; March of Dimes Hawaii Chapter; Family Voices of Hawaii; American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Hawaii Section; and one individual testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Human Services, Department of Health, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Hawaii Pacific Health, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and Queen's Health Systems provided comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the annual reports cover the calendar year immediately prior to the year in which the report is due;

     (2)  Allowing the Department to conduct multidisciplinary and multiagency reviews of maternal deaths to reduce the incidence of preventable child deaths;

     (3)  Upon the written request of the Director, requiring:

          (A)  A state or county agency to report deaths of children in the custody of the state or county agency to the Department; and

          (B)  All providers of health care, social services, and state and county agencies to provide information, or other data or material relating to the condition and treatment of any person to the Department or its designee and clarifying that the information is only to be used for the purpose of advancing medical research, medical education, or education of the public in the interest of reducing morbidity or mortality;

     (4)  Clarifying that all providers of health care, social services, and state and county agencies must disclose to the Department, and those individuals appointed by the Director to participate in the review of child deaths, child death review information regarding the circumstances of a child's death;

     (5)  Requiring that the Department not request findings of any hospital quality committee review; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2317, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2317, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair