HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

21

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE STATE OF HAWAII TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS OF THE HAWAII HEALTH CARE PROJECT AND THE HAWAII HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE TO IMPLEMENT AN EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE, INTEGRATED, TECHNOLOGY-BASED HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEM.

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force established by Act 269, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, found that obesity is a major health and economic concern for Hawaii and the nation, causing higher medical costs and lower quality of life; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Hawaii, adult obesity more than doubled between 1995 and 2009, and childhood obesity increased by 38 percent from 1999 to 2009; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Hawaii, one in three children entering kindergarten is overweight or obese and one in two adults is overweight or obese; and

 

     WHEREAS, obesity-related medical expenditures in Hawaii were calculated to be over $470 million in 2009, and are continuing to rise; and

 

     WHEREAS, to address the problem of obesity in Hawaii's population, the healthcare system demands an integrated information technology system that provides an efficient means to share clinical and other healthcare-related data that is currently housed in various registries and systems about the State's population; and

 

     WHEREAS, Title XIII of Division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act established a program under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments to eligible providers, hospitals, and critical access hospitals for the meaningful use of certified electronic health records technology; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State already has embarked on an effort to modernize its Medicaid information technology system and is poised to develop the eligibility system for the Hawaii Health Connector utilizing federal funding available for these purposes; and

 

     WHEREAS, efforts at improving the Medicare and Medicaid systems through the use of information technology will go far to improve the efficiency of access to patients' healthcare information and, consequently, improve the efficiency and quality of patient care; and

 

     WHEREAS, Section 3013 of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act also provides for the promotion of health information technology through grants to a State or a qualified state-designated entity; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State will benefit from the institution of a statewide healthcare information architecture envisioned by the provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act through improved quality of care, increased sharing of information needed to diagnose and treat patients, enhanced privacy and security controls of healthcare information, and reduction of redundant healthcare procedures and costs; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State is committed to implementing the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and has designated the nonprofit Hawaii Health Information Exchange as the state-designated entity to implement the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Governor has identified improving the State's healthcare system, in total, as an Administration priority and has established the Hawaii Health Care Project, headed by the State's Healthcare Transformation Coordinator, to include representatives from all sectors of Hawaii's healthcare system; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Health Care Project is targeting strategies for significant, positive change in delivering and paying for healthcare in Hawaii that will leverage the power of information technology and data analysis to achieve continuous improvement and determine how public policy and programs can be shaped to support these changes; and

 

     WHEREAS, recognizing the importance of an efficient, technology-based healthcare information system, the Hawaii Health Care Project is working directly with the Hawaii Health Information Exchange to meet the objectives of the Hawaii Health Care Project; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Health Care Project and Hawaii Health Information Exchange are reviewing organizational changes, including those that may require administrative action or statutory amendments, to help expedite the State's achievement of the objectives of the Hawaii Health Care Project, Hawaii Health Information Exchange, and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act; and

 

     WHEREAS, a successful, integrated, technology-based healthcare information system demands a financial sustainability model that allows all entities that benefit from the system to share in the responsibility of maintaining the system; and

 

     WHEREAS, support for the efforts of the Hawaii Health Care Project and Hawaii Health Information Exchange to implement an efficient and effective, integrated, technology-based healthcare information system is critical to the health and vitality of Hawaii's residents; now therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the Senate concurring, that the State of Hawaii support the efforts of the Hawaii Health Care Project and the Hawaii Health Information Exchange to implement an efficient and effective, integrated, technology-based healthcare information system; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Health Care Project and Hawaii Health Information Exchange ensure that the integrated technology-based healthcare information system is developed with and maintained under a public-private partnership to include those with shared interests in providing data into and receiving data through the system; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all state agencies that collect and maintain healthcare-related data and information cooperate with the Hawaii Health Care Project and Hawaii Health Information Exchange's effort to develop and implement the technology-based healthcare information system to include but not be limited to data housed in registries and surveillance systems; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Health Care Project, in cooperation with the Hawaii Health Information Exchange:

 

(1)  Propose a financial sustainability model that maintains the technology-based healthcare information system and provides for all entities that benefit from the system to fairly share in the financial responsibility to maintain that system; and

 

(2)  Submit a report of the actions taken and the progress made on developing the model to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2014; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State maximize efforts at applying for and receiving federal funding for the development and improvement of technology-based healthcare information systems; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, and Hawaii Healthcare Transformation Coordinator.

 

Report Title:

Health Care; Technology-Based Healthcare Information System