STAND. COM. REP. NO 382

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 809

       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 Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 809 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION TREATMENT PLANS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Allow physicians to submit workers' compensation treatment plans to employers by facsimile, the Internet, and other electronic media; and

     (2)  Require employers to accept electronically submitted treatment plans and provide an electronic receipt of the submission.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Work Injury Medical Association of Hawaii and four individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii Insurers Council.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and one individual.

     Your Committees find that Hawaii's current system for physicians to submit treatment plans in workers' compensation claims is in need of modernization given the advancement of technology.  Allowing treatment plans to be faxed and electronically mailed will greatly improve the efficiency of Hawaii's workers' compensation system.

     Your Committees note that it is imperative for state departments and counties to acquire the technology for automated responses as it relates to this measure.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by clarifying that a physician may send a treatment plan to the employer by means of facsimile, the Internet, or secure electronic mail.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 809, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 809, 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 Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair