STAND. COM. REP. NO. 215

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 766

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 766 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require that a physician selected and paid for by an employer to conduct a medical examination for workers' compensation purposes shall be actively treating at least ten patients in any one-month period, be actively treating at least fifty percent of the physician's total patient load in a one-month period, and possess medical malpractice insurance; and

 

     (2)  Define "actively treating".

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals; International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142; and three individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the City and County of Honolulu; National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies; Hawaii Insurers Council; Society for Human Resource Management, Hawaii Chapter; and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development and Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

 

     Your Committee finds that an independent medical examination conducted by a physician of an employer's choice is the primary tool that is available to an employer to help overcome the statutory presumption that a claim is for a covered work injury, to show that ongoing medical treatment may be unreasonable or unnecessary, and to determine whether a requested medical treatment is reasonable and related to the work injury.  Therefore, it is critical to make sure that injured workers are evaluated and treated by competent, actively treating medical professionals.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 766 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair