Bill Text: HI HB1493 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Dialysis Centers; Backup Generators
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [HB1493 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB1493-Introduced.html
Report Title:
Dialysis Centers; Backup Generators
Description:
Requires all dialysis centers in the State to have backup generators with the capacity to sustain treatment and maintain the centers' water treatment system.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1493 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to health.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii has a forty per cent higher prevalence rate of patients diagnosed with end‑stage renal disease than the rest of the nation. The National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii estimates that six hundred twenty patients are newly diagnosed with end-stage renal disease every year in Hawaii. Patients suffering from end-stage renal disease are most often put on dialysis treatment, a medical treatment that filters waste from the patients' blood when the kidneys are no longer able to do so. The treatment takes hours and usually requires three treatments a week.
As of December 2008, the State has twenty-two federally certified dialysis centers, not including those within hospitals, and many are operating at close to full capacity. Only one of the off-hospital dialysis centers has a backup emergency generator, and yet, even that system was not prepared to run its water treatment system with low water pressure. The two requirements that are crucial to the operations of dialysis treatment are electricity and water.
As a result of the recent power outages in the State, many dialysis patients were forced to miss their regular treatment appointments, which put them at serious risk for blood poisoning.
The purpose of this Act is to require all dialysis centers in Hawaii to have backup emergency generators with the capacity to sustain dialysis treatments and maintain their water treatment system.
SECTION 2. Beginning October 1, 2010, each dialysis center operating in the State shall have a backup emergency generator with sufficient capacity to provide electricity necessary to sustain dialysis treatments while also maintaining water pressure levels required to operate the dialysis treatment system. Each dialysis center shall maintain enough fuel on the premises to maintain the operation of its backup generator for at least forty-eight hours.
SECTION 3. The department of health shall develop guidelines for dialysis centers to follow regarding the installation, capacity, and use of backup emergency generators that are required by this Act.
SECTION 4. The department of health shall submit a report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2010, identifying each dialysis center operating in the State and reporting whether each dialysis center has complied with the requirements of this Act.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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