STAND. COM. REP. NO. 720-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2088

H.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2088, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Replace the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) with the Department of Health (DOH) as the source of the State's share of matching funds for critical access hospitals; and

(2) Make permanent Act 226, Session Laws of Hawaii (SLH) 2000, which contains provisions that reimburse critical access hospitals on a cost basis under the Medicaid program using matching federal funds.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO, and Healthcare Association of Hawaii submitted testimony in support of this measure. DOH, Department of Human Services, Department of Budget and Finance, HHSC, and Kauai Region of the HHSC supported removing the sunset date but opposed substituting DOH for HHSC as the source of the State's share of matching funds.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Reinstating HHSC as the source of the State's share of matching funds for critical access hospitals, instead of DOH;

(2) Establishing a sunset date of June 30, 2006, for Act 226, SLH 2000; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2088, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2088, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair