HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

95

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO CONDUCT A STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF THE ADEQUACY OF PAYMENTS FOR HEALTH CARE FUNDED BY THE STATE AND THE ADEQUACY OF PAYMENTS FOR HEALTH CARE USING RATES ESTABLISHED BY THE STATE.

 

WHEREAS, the critical financial condition of hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other health care providers has been well documented recently in a series of articles by Helen Altonn that were published by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and an article by Rob Perez that was published by the Honolulu Advertiser; and

WHEREAS, these articles made the following points:

(1) Patients demand to be diagnosed and treated with the latest technology, which is very expensive;

(2) The need for expensive, institutionalized long-term care is substantial and is expected to grow as "baby boomers" age;

(3) Health care facilities have incurred high costs related to potential terrorist threats and other emergencies;

(4) Providers are receiving insufficient payments for health care from government payers, private insurance payers, and patients who do not have insurance; and

(5) Hawaii’s hospitals have incurred more than $500,000,000 in losses due to bad debt and charity care since 2000;

and

WHEREAS, the State pays for a considerable amount of health care and also controls certain types of payments made to health care providers; and

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to ensure that health care payments made with state funds or controlled by the State are sufficient to cover the actual costs of care; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) is requested to conduct a study of recommended procedures that will ensure that state-funded health care payments adequately reimburse providers who provide services to Medicaid or QUEST recipients, for the actual costs of health care services; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests that the study conducted by LRB include:

(1) A review of procedures implemented by other jurisdictions or as recommended by experts to ensure that state-funded health care payments to Medicaid providers adequately reimburse providers for their actual costs;

(2) A comparison of rates for the ten most frequently used Medicaid and QUEST health care services, actual costs of those services, and the amount reimbursed to the provider;

(3) A method of updating payments and reimbursements to health care providers every two years to keep pace with inflation; and

(4) A survey of nationwide benchmarks to see how Hawaii compares to other jurisdictions regarding provider payments and reimbursements for at least the ten most frequently used Medicaid and QUEST health care services;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that LRB is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this concurrent resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, Director of Human Services, Insurance Commissioner, the Acting Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, Chief Executive Officer of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Medical Association.

 

 

Report Title:

State-Funded Health Care Payments; Reimbursements.