STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1315
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: S.B. No. 1441
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1441, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE TRANSITION OF THE OAHU REGIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM FROM THE HAWAII HEALTH SYSTEMS CORPORATION INTO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The
purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Repeal the requirement
to transfer the Oahu Regional Health Care System from the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation to the Department of Health;
(2) Repeal amendments to the Hawaii Revised
Statutes made by Act 212, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, that relate to the
transfer of the Oahu Regional Health Care System from the Hawaii Health Systems
Corporation to the Department of Health; and
(3) Require the Oahu Regional Health Care System
and the Department of Health enter into an agreement regarding the Oahu
Regional Health Care System under certain terms and report to the Legislature.
Your Committee finds
that Act 212, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021 (Act 212), required the Hawaii Health
Systems Corporation to transfer the Oahu Regional Health Care System (Oahu
Region) to the Department of Health, in part to provide the Department of
Health with additional infrastructure and resources to address the gap in the
behavioral health care system between acute psychiatric care facilities and low
acuity residential treatment. Your
Committee further finds that the working group convened pursuant to Act 212 has
determined that completing the transition of the Oahu Region to the Department
of Health would come at an exceptionally high cost and would not result in
additional services for the community.
Your Committee believes that requiring the Department of Health and Oahu
Region to enter into a formal agreement regarding care of low acuity patients
in the Department of Health's custody, as proposed by this measure, is a more
cost-effective option that would still ensure Leahi Hospital and Maluhia are
appropriately utilized.
Your
Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Specifying that the Oahu Region and Department
of Health shall enter into a formal memorandum of agreement for the care of certain
psychiatrically stable patients transferred or discharged from the Hawaii State
Hospital to an appropriate Oahu Region facility and specifying the conditions
of the agreement;
(2) Requiring the Oahu Region, rather than the
Oahu Region and the Department of Health, to report to the Legislature and
clarifying the contents of the report;
(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000,
to encourage further discussion; and
(4) 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 Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1441, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1441, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,
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____________________________ GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair |
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