HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2533
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to health.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. This Act is recommended by the governor for immediate passage in accordance with article VII, section 9, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii.

SECTION 2. The legislature finds that 168,000 Hawaii residents suffer from chronic kidney disease. Due to the demographics and diet of Hawaii's population, one in seven persons in Hawaii suffers from chronic kidney disease, compared to the national average of one in nine persons. About four thousand Hawaii patients with chronic kidney disease require dialysis three times per week due to kidney failure. This lifesaving treatment filters waste, excess fluids, and toxins from the blood. Every year, seven hundred more individuals in Hawaii require dialysis treatment than in the previous year.

The legislature further finds that the State's two dialysis operators, Liberty Dialysis and U.S. Renal Care, have opened and plan to open additional dialysis centers to address the increased demand for dialysis services. However, the new dialysis centers cannot be reimbursed for treating medicare and medicaid patients, who make up eighty-five per cent of Hawaii's dialysis population, without certification from the department of health. The certification process currently takes nearly three years to complete due, in part, to a shortage of funds and the lack of department personnel. This has created an artificial shortage in the number of available dialysis centers. In response to the increased demand for dialysis, many certified dialysis centers are operating beyond their capacity by scheduling patients after normal hours. In some cases, patients must drive over twenty miles to be treated at a dialysis center because such a distant center is the only one with available appointments.

The purpose of this Act is to increase the number of certified dialysis centers in Hawaii by making an emergency appropriation for the department of health to contract for assistance in the review, certification, and recertification of dialysis centers.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $150,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2017-2018 to contract for services to assist in the review, certification, and recertification of dialysis centers.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Dialysis Centers; Certification; Department of Health; Emergency Appropriation

Description:

Makes an emergency appropriation to DOH to contract for services to review, certify, and recertify dialysis centers. Appropriates funds.

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