STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3182

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 79

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Education and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 79 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CREATION OF HIGH SCHOOL HEALTH ACADEMIES STATEWIDE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education, Department of Health, and health care industry to establish health academies at high schools throughout the State.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education and Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

     Your Committees find that the physician workforce in Hawaii has decreased in recent years.  A study conducted by the John A. Burns School of Medicine indicates that there is currently a shortage of physicians in Hawaii estimated at six hundred fifty-five full-time equivalent physicians, and that the shortage will probably reach eight hundred by 2020.  Your Committees further find that the Farrington Health Academy was established in 1991 and offers a three-year interdisciplinary program to students who are interested in developing career interests in health care.  Your Committees also find that additional health academy programs at high schools following the model of the Farrington Health Academy could encourage students to enter the health care workforce.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 79 and recommend that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair