STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2104

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2653

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 S.B. No. 2653 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHAPTER 453, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish requirements for licensure by endorsement for physicians, surgeons, and osteopathic physicians; and

(2) Appropriate an unspecified sum from the compliance resolution fund to implement the licensure by endorsement process established by this measure.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Medical Board, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, and Hilo Medical Center. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawai‘i Primary Care Association.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii is facing a critical shortage of health care providers in almost every field of practice, with primary care providers being the largest group in short supply, followed by infectious disease specialists on Oahu and Kauai, colorectal surgeons in the County of Hawaii, and geriatric doctors in the County of Maui. Your Committee further finds that the health care provider shortage is projected to worsen, due to the increased demand for health care from the State's aging population and the retirement of an aging physician population.

Your Committee additionally finds that another access to care barrier is the limitation placed on physicians seeking to relocate to Hawaii, as the Hawaii Medical Board (Board) currently lacks the ability to grant licensure by endorsement to physicians, surgeons, and osteopathic physicians who are fully qualified and licensed in another jurisdiction. According to testimony from the Board, between January 2016 and December 2017, the Board received over one thousand applications from physicians who were licensed in other jurisdictions, had mailing addresses in other jurisdictions, or both. This measure therefore establishes licensure by endorsement requirements for physicians, surgeons, and osteopathic physicians, which will provide greater access to medical care in Hawaii and address the high volume of applications received from out-of-state physicians in a more streamlined manner.

Your Committee notes that although this measure permits the Board to grant licensure by endorsement in an expeditious fashion, it does not lessen the Board's legislative mandate to protect Hawaii consumers from unsafe and incompetent health care practitioners and clearly ensures that the Board may only license physicians, surgeons, and osteopathic physicians who meet specific licensing requirements and who have not been previously disciplined by another medical or osteopathic medical board.

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 S.B. No. 2653 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair