STAND. COM. REP. NO 202

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 337

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 337 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require birthing facilities to perform a pulse oximetry test or other medically accepted test on newborns to screen for critical congenital heart defects.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the March of Dimes, Hawaii Chapter; Kapiolani Medical Center; Family Voices of Hawaii; American Heart Association; and two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committees find that pulse oximetry is a non-invasive test that estimates the percentage of hemoglobin in blood that is saturated with oxygen.  When performed on newborns in birthing facilities, pulse oximetry is effective at detecting critical, life-threatening congenital heart defects, which otherwise may go undetected by current screening methods.  Many newborn lives could be saved by earlier detection and treatment of congenital heart defects if birthing facilities in the State were required to perform this screening in conjunction with current congenital heart disease screening methods.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting language to require birthing facilities to report a minimum data set to the Department of Health for quality improvement activities; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 337, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 337, 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 Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair