STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3429

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2578

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2578, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish biennial requirements of forty credit hours in specified continuing medical education programs for renewal of a physician assistant license; and

(2) Authorize the Hawaii Medical Board to conduct random document audits to enforce compliance with the continuing medical education requirements.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Medical Board, Hawaii Academy of Physician Assistants, American Academy of Physician Assistants, and eighteen individuals.

Your Committee finds that under the Hawaii Medical Board's existing administrative rules, physician assistants must maintain certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants to be eligible for licensure renewal. However, this requirement is no longer standard amongst regulatory boards that certify or license physician assistants. Your Committee further finds that while many physician assistants choose to maintain their National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants certification, Hawaii is one of only seventeen states that tie physician assistant license renewal to the passage of a recertification examination.

Your Committee notes that in the majority of states and the District of Columbia, physician assistants must instead complete a specified amount of continuing medical education, while decisions related to recertification are made at the practice level. This measure therefore brings the license renewal requirements of physician assistants into parity with those of Hawaii-licensed physicians and requires physician assistants to submit proof of forty hours of specified continuing medical education as a condition of their biennial renewal.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the continuing education compliance requirements shall begin with the renewal for the physician assistant licensing biennium commencing February 1, 2020, and every biennial licensing renewal thereafter;

(2) Clarifying that the continuing education requirements for physician assistants can be met via a Category 1 continuing medical education program accredited by the American Academy of Physician Assistants;

(3) Changing its effective date to upon approval; and

(4) 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 Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2578, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2578, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair