Report Title:

Appropriation; Maui Emergency Medical Air Transport

Description:

Appropriates $         in FY 2003-2004 and FY 2004-2005 to subsidize emergency medical air helicopter services for the county of Maui.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1498

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

making an appropriation for emergency medical air transport services for the county of maui.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the current emergency medical air transport services in the county of Maui lacks the timely rapid transport for severely injured or ill persons that require definitive medical care at tertiary hospitals in Honolulu, Oahu. While there is a need for fixed-wing aeromedical services, there is a critical need for quicker response time for severely injured or ill persons.

The primary value of emergency medical air helicopter services lies in the speed in which a severely ill or severely injured person can be transported to the most appropriate medical facility. In many cases, the time required for persons to receive definitive medical care is the single most important factor in their survival.

For the past decade, emergency room physicians and others have expressed critical concerns over the inadequate emergency aeromedical system. Consequently, Act 59, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998, was passed requiring the department of health to develop a plan for aeromedical services, and a report was prepared by the department of health to the 1999 legislature.

According to the report, a panel was convened in 1998 to examine the need for both fixed-wing and rotor-wing aeromedical services in Hawaii. The panel agreed that "an aeromedical system must assure timely transport of seriously ill and severely injured persons to definitive medical care facilities."

Further, the report states, "an analysis was conducted using Hawaii trauma system data to evaluate whether the transfer of serious head-injured patients from neighbor island hospitals to the trauma center met the American College of Surgeons four-hour performance measure for optimal outcome. The performance measure was defined to mean the time a patient arrived at the initial receiving facility until receipt at the trauma center.

Consequently, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the department of health to provide emergency medical air helicopter services to the residents of the county of Maui, to prevent any unnecessary loss of human life due to lack of access to rapid transportation.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2003-2004, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, for the provision of emergency medical air helicopter services to the residents of the county of Maui.

SECTION 3. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act; provided that any emergency medical air helicopter services and its crew be based at the Maui memorial medical center.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.

INTRODUCED BY:

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