STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1143-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2285

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health & Homelessness and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2285, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE HEALTH PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Define "health care" for the purposes of health planning and resource development and health care cost control;

(2) Amend the duties and functions of the State Health Planning and Development Agency; and

(3) Establish and appropriate funds for positions within the State Health Planning and Development Agency.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; State Council on Developmental Disabilities; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Executive Office on Aging; AlohaCare; Hawai‘i Primary Care Association; and AARP Hawaiʻi. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i; Hawaii Medical Service Association; Hawai‘i Pacific Health; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; and Hawaii Association of Health Plans.

Your Committees find that there is a strong need to provide unconflicted oversight of the State's health care and long-term care functions to ensure access, equity, quality of care, health outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. Your Committees note that the State Health Planning and Development Agency is uniquely suited to provide this oversight as, through the State's All-Payer Claims Database, the Agency is the statutory recipient of insurance claims data of all health care provided for beneficiaries of Medicaid, Medicare, and the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund. This measure is intended to provide the State Health Planning and Development Agency with the tools needed to collect and apply health status data to systematically improve access, equity, quality of care, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness for health and long-term care services.

Your Committees further find that the State's residents deserve universal and equitable access to affordable, high-quality health care. However, high insurance costs, low reimbursement rates to providers, health care workforce shortages, and other factors have led to poor access to care for many Hawaii residents. Your Committees believe that the establishment of a Hui Ho‘omana task force to, among other tasks, assist the State Health Planning and Development Agency in the initial creation of a State Health Services, Workforce, and Facilities Plan will be an effective mechanism to outline processes and procedures that would move the State in the direction of universal access to equitable and affordable high quality health care.

Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the State Health Planning and Development Agency to coordinate activities that affect health care costs, as well as access and quality, and deleting the requirement that the State Health Planning and Development Agency provide leadership or resources for the coordination of these activities;

(2) Deleting language requiring the State Health Planning and Development Agency to develop an annual state global budget;

(3) Requiring the State Health Planning and Development Agency to submit the State Health Services, Workforce, and Facilities Plan no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2026 and the updated plan every four years thereafter;

(4) Amending the permitted contents of the State Health Planning and Development Agency's reports;

(5) Establishing a task force known as the Hui Hoʻomana to assist in the development of the State Health Services, Workforce, and Facilities Plan and to make recommendations to achieve universal access and equity to quality health care at an affordable cost for the State's residents and requiring the Hui Hoʻomana to submit reports to the Legislature;

(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health & Homelessness and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2285, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2285, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

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

____________________________ LISA MARTEN, Chair

____________________________ DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair