STAND. COM. REP. NO. 403

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 304

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 304 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Hawaii Maternal Mortality Review Panel within the Department of Health to conduct a comprehensive review of maternal deaths that have occurred in the State.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Medical Association, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and two individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Office of Information Practices.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii is one of only fourteen states in the nation that does not have a maternal mortality review committee.  From 2001 to 2011, there were an average of nine maternal deaths per year.  However, many experts suggest that these figures reflect under-reporting of maternal deaths.  Establishing a maternal mortality review committee will go a long way toward improving women's services and saving lives.

     Your Committee notes that the expected costs for the implementation and operation of the Hawaii Maternal Mortality Review Panel is $10,000.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Renaming the "maternal mortality review panel" to "maternal morbidity and mortality review panel";

     (2)  Inserting conforming amendments that incorporate maternal morbidity into references to "maternal mortality", "maternal mortality events", and "maternal mortality review information"; and

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

     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. 304, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 304, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair