STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1448

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 582

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 582, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE NURSING FACILITY SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend and extend the nursing facility sustainability program.

 

     More specifically, the measure:

 

     (1)  Repeals an exemption for the nursing facility sustainability program special fund from central services expenses and departmental administrative expenses;

 

     (2)  Continues the nursing facility sustainability program for one additional year; and

 

     (3)  Appropriates funds from the nursing facility sustainability program special fund for fiscal year 2015-2016.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, The Queen's Health Systems, the Hawaii Primary Care Association, and the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.  The Department of the Attorney General submitted written comments on the measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that Medicaid payments to nursing facilities are below the actual costs of care, and that the Legislature therefore created the nursing facility sustainability program to increase Medicaid payments to nursing facilities.

 

     Your Committee further finds that, because the majority of residents in Hawaii's nursing facilities are Medicaid enrollees, the nursing facility sustainability program helps promote the financial solvency of those facilities to ensure that the residents have access to quality care. 

 

     Accordingly, your Committee believes that the nursing facility sustainability program should be extended for an additional year.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Revising sections 36-27(a) and 36-30(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to reflect how those sections will appear on the effective date of this measure, December 31, 2016, after those sections will be reenacted on June 30, 2015, in the form in which they read on June 30, 2009, pursuant to Act 79, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, with the addition of subsequent amendments that were exempted from the repeal and reenactment provisions of that Act;

 

     (2)  Adding language to clarify that this measure amends Act 156, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, by amending:

 

          (a)  Section 2 of Act 156, in Section 3 of the measure; and

 

          (b)  Section 5 of Act 156, in Section 4 of the measure; and

 

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 582, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 582, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair