STAND. COM. REP. NO. 496

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1437

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1437 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to alleviate the nursing shortage.

 

     Specifically, this measure would:

 

     (1)  Establish a Geriatric Nursing Institute at the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene;

 

     (2)  Establish a University of Hawaii statewide nursing consortium to implement and evaluate a program to support educational mobility between the community colleges and four-year degree university programs; and

 

     (3)  Increase the undergraduate faculty and academic support capacity at the University of Hawaii Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene to increase the number of nursing graduates.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Governor's Office, Department of Health, University of Hawaii System, Hawaii State Center for Nursing, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, The Queen's Medical Center, Hawaii Medical Service Association, Hawaii Pacific Health, Leahi Hospital, and eleven individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that Hawaii's nurses are the primary providers of hospital patient care and deliver much of the State's long term and community–based care.  An investment in nursing is an investment in the health and well-being of the State.

 

     Health statistics indicate that older adults consume the majority of health care services, comprising fifty-seven to sixty‑three per cent of the physician visits, fifty per cent of hospital expenditures, eighty per cent of home health care visits, and ninety per cent of long term care.  Ironically, many of the aging baby boomers are nurses, and it is projected that by 2020, sixty-one per cent of Hawaii's nursing workforce will have retired.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting the specific amounts appropriated, but urge the Committee on Ways and Means to restore the original appropriated amounts for each fiscal year of $675,000 to establish a University of Hawaii Statewide Nursing Consortium; $275,000 to establish a nursing workforce development initiative; and $550,000 to increase the number of nursing graduates by twenty-five.  Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for purposes of clarity, style, and to conform to preferred drafting conventions.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1437, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1437, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Education,

 

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair