STAND. COM. REP. NO.215

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1064

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1064 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for a grant-in-aid to Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., for evening medical transport services for hemodialysis patients in Maui County.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by Maui Mayor Alan M. Arakawa; the Maui County Council; Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc.; the Maui United Way; the Joint Advocacy Committee on Senior Affairs (JACOSA); the Salvation Army, Kahului Corps Community Center; Hale Mahaolu; Hale Makua; the Maui Senior Citizens Planning and Coordination Council; Maui Adult Day Care Centers; Hui Malama Learning Center; Hui No Ke Ola Pono, Maui's Native Hawaiian Health Care System; Ka Lima O Maui; and one concerned citizen.

Your Committee finds that, for the past three years, Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc. (MEO) has provided vital medical transport services for hemodialysis patients, and currently services about one-third of the end stage renal disease population on the island of Maui. MEO provides specialized transportation services similar to Honolulu's Handi-Van service, using specially-equipped buses and highly trained driver-technicians to transport kidney dialysis patients from their homes to the dialysis center and back. Because of high demand at the St. Francis Dialysis Center, many dialysis patients have no choice but to accept off-hour (evening and weekend) appointments to receive life-saving dialysis treatment. Each hemodialysis procedure takes about four to six hours, three times per week.

The annual budget for this program is $125,000, which allows MEO to provide specialized medical transport services to between 12 and 25 clients, totaling about 4,056 medical trips per year. The specialized medical transport program is funded only through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003.

Your Committee is reporting this measure out to facilitate further discussion and possible consideration of alternative funding approaches that would provide a stable source of funding for life-saving medical transport services, such as off-hour specialized medical transport services for hemodialysis patients provided by Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1064 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair