STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2879

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 8

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.R. No. 8 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION EXPRESSING STRONG SUPPORT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE WAHIAWA CENTER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH TO PROVIDE PRIMARY MEDICAL CARE SERVICES TO THE MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED POPULATION OF WAHIAWA AND ITS SURROUNDING RURAL COMMUNITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to express support for the establishment of the Wahiawa Center for Community Health to provide primary healthcare services to the medically underserved population of Wahiawa and its surrounding rural communities.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, Wahiawa Community and Business Association, AlohaCare, ‘Ohana Health Plan, Faith Action for Community Equity, Hawaii Association of Health Plans, and seventeen individuals.

     Your Committee finds that approximately 43,000 individuals live in the Wahiawa community, of which fifty-four percent are living in a United States Department of Health and Human Services-designated Medically Underserved Population.  This designation reflects the inadequate number of primary care clinicians practicing in Wahiawa and the area's poor socio-economic indicators.  Access and availability of healthcare services in Wahiawa is diminishing at a rapid pace, in part due to the scarce number of physicians available to serve the community, are ready to retire or currently working at maximum patient capacity, are not accepting new patients, limit the type of insurance accepted, and cannot serve all of the uninsured who are unable to pay in full.

     Your Committee further finds that community organizing and outreach revealed the definite need for a community health center, and the Wahiawa Center for Community Health was established to meet that need.  The Wahiawa Center for Community Health was incorporated on January 25, 2012, and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity with the express purpose of creating a federally qualified health center in Wahiawa to bring affordable, high quality, and accessible care to the people of Wahiawa, regardless of ability to pay and on a sliding discount scale.  The establishment of the Wahiawa Center for Community Health is in the public interest and for the public health, safety, and general welfare to assist in the improvement of the healthcare system for residents of the State.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments, including to its title, for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 8, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 8, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair