STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3662

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 154

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 154 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII HEALTH SYSTEMS CORPORATION TO PARTNER WITH THE KA‘U RURAL HEALTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC., TO CONDUCT A NEEDS ASSESSMENT TO DETERMINE THE DEMAND FOR AND ACCESS TO URGENT CARE AND OUTPATIENT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES IN THE KA‘U DISTRICT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation to partner with the Ka‘ū Rural Health Community Association, Inc., to conduct a needs assessment to determine the demand for and access to urgent care and outpatient behavioral health services in the Ka‘ū district of the County of Hawaii.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Hawai‘i County Council.

Your Committees find that residents of the Ka‘ū district in the southern region of the island of Hawaii face cultural, financial, and geographical barriers that prevent them from accessing health services. Your Committees further find that the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, which serves as a "safety net" for neighbor island acute care and long-term care, operates Ka‘ū Hospital and Rural Health Clinic, a twenty-one-bed critical access hospital providing both acute and long-term care, including twenty-four-hour emergency services and a family practice medical clinic. Your Committees believe that by partnering with Ka‘ū Rural Health Community Association, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve access to quality health care in rural communities in the Ka‘ū district, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation will be able to provide the Legislature with relevant and accurate information needed to determine the demand for and available access to urgent care and outpatient behavioral health services in the Ka‘ū district.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 154, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 154, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair