STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1048

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 799

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 799, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Clarify that a physician may practice at an organized ambulatory health care facility even if the physician does not have hospital privileges at a licensed hospital in the same geographic location as the ambulatory facility; and

(2) Provide that a written transfer agreement is not required to transfer a patient from an organized ambulatory health care facility to a licensed hospital.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Healthcare Association of Hawaii; Aloha Surgical Center; Hawaii Medical Association; and Hawaii Medical Service Association. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health; Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund Board of Trustees; and Hawaii Association of Health Plans.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii residents, particularly those in rural and neighbor island communities, continue to face significant barriers to accessing timely and specialized health care due to a shortage of health care providers. This shortage has been further exacerbated by the 2023 Maui wildfires, which displaced medical practices and damaged health care facilities, leaving many residents without adequate care.

Your Committee further finds that under existing Hawaii Administrative Rules, physicians must have local hospital privileges to practice in outpatient facilities. Because of the State's unique geography, the conditions needed to get hospital privileges are extremely hard to fulfill for health care providers who do not reside on the island where care is needed. This measure will protect consumers by reducing administrative barriers for physicians who are willing to travel to another island to provide much-needed care at outpatient facilities, ensuring that residents in underserved areas can more easily access the medical services they need without unnecessary delays.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Restricting the applicability of this measure to counties with populations of less than five hundred thousand; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 799, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 799, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair