Bill Text: HI HB1511 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Primary Health Care Incentive Program

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [HB1511 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-HB1511-Introduced.html

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Report Title:

Primary Health Care Incentive Program

 

Description:

Amends the primary health care incentive program to include the development and maintenance of a list of doctors, their specialties, and locations in which they are willing to help serve.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1511
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to the primary health care incentive PROGRAM.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  Recent reports about the increasing shortage of doctors in Hawaii, particularly in the under-served and rural areas, have brought more scrutiny and attention to the shortfalls in Hawaii's healthcare system.  An alarming number of doctors are either retiring or leaving the State for other opportunities, and the State is failing to replace them in a timely manner, if at all.

     Many neighbor island communities lack immediate access to a healthcare provider in their area.  In most emergency medical situations, the lack of adequate physicians, equipment, and facilities often requires transporting patients to Oahu for treatment.  In many cases, even with life-saving procedures and technology, neighbor island patients cannot receive treatment on Oahu in time to save their lives.

     It is critical that the State begin to utilize creative options to:

     (1)  Increase the number of doctors that we recruit and retain in the State; and

     (2)  Ensure that all communities, especially in rural areas, have timely access to the medical care they need.

     Additionally, opportunities are available now through the information age technology.  Instant access to critical information has the potential to make a noticeable difference in the type and quality of healthcare that patients receive, leading to healthier residents and a better quality of life.  In the twenty-first century, information technology has become an integral part of our daily lives.  President Barack Obama, during his campaign to become the forty-fourth President of the United States, has pledged to make information technology a priority and increase spending to developing health information technology and health information exchange an unquestionable reality.

     Now is the time to start taking advantage of all the resources available.  Establishing health information technology and information exchange, as piloted through the National Governor's Association via funding and support from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, gives Hawaii a chance to participate in a new program that will advance healthcare in the State.

     The purpose of this Act, to be known as "The Hawaii Doctor Exchange Act of 2009", is to expand the primary health care incentive program by adding health information technology, health information exchange, and a doctor exchange database to the program's duties.  This Act is one of eight proposals introduced in the twenty-fifth Hawaii state legislature designed to address the increasingly problematic medical environment in Hawaii.  Collectively, these eight measures shall be known as "The Hawaii Doctor Recruitment and Retention Action Plan of 2009".

     SECTION 2.  Section 321-1.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§321-1.5[]]  Primary health care incentive program; establishment.  (a)  There is established within the department of health a primary health care incentive program.  The program shall:

     (1)  Utilize existing personnel and resources to focus on primary health care;

     (2)  Study the adequacy, accessibility, and availability of primary health care with regard to medically underserved persons in the State of Hawaii;

     (3)  Convene and provide staff support for a volunteer primary health care roundtable composed of knowledgeable health care professionals, consumers, and other interested persons whose advisory purpose shall be to:

         (A)  Investigate and analyze the extent, location, and characteristics of medically underserved areas, and the numbers, location, and characteristics of medically underserved persons in Hawaii, with particular attention given to shortages of health care professionals available to provide care to these areas and persons;

         (B)  Assess the feasibility of family practice clerkships, preceptor programs, residency programs, and placement programs for medical school students and graduates as a means of increasing the number of family practitioners available to serve medically underserved areas and populations;

         (C)  Investigate and make recommendations regarding incentives, such as tuition exemptions, to increase the pool of primary health care practitioners, including family practitioners, other physicians in related specialties, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants, that are available to serve medically underserved areas and populations;

         (D)  Develop a strategy for meeting the health needs of medically underserved areas and populations based upon the findings that result from its investigations; [and]

         (E)  Develop and maintain a list of healthcare providers, their specialties, and locations that they are willing to serve, either permanently or on a rotational basis, which shall be used by healthcare facilities when they lack necessary healthcare providers to perform certain medical health care.  This list shall be made readily accessible, through written copies, verbally, or electronically, to any healthcare facility requesting the information; and

        [(E)] (F)  Maintain an ongoing electronic forum for the discussion of data collection regarding primary health care gaps, incentives to promote primary health care, and the development of cooperative interdisciplinary efforts among primary health care professionals;

     (4)  Develop a strategy to provide appropriate and adequate access to primary health care in underserved areas[;], which shall include an electronic list of healthcare providers, their specialties, and locations they are willing to serve either permanently or on a rotational basis;

     (5)  Promote and develop community and consumer involvement in maintaining, rebuilding, and diversifying primary health care services in medically underserved areas;

     (6)  Produce and distribute minutes of volunteer primary health care roundtable's discussions, and submit annual reports to the legislature on recommended incentives and strategies, as well as a plan for implementation, with the first report to be submitted to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the [1993] 2010 regular session; and

     (7)  Facilitate communication and coordination among providers, health care educators, communities, cultural groups, and consumers of primary health care.

     (b)  For purposes of this section:

     "Health care facilities" shall have the same meaning as defined in section 323D-2.

     "Health care provider" means a health care facility as defined in section 323D-2, a physician or surgeon or osteopathic physician or surgeon licensed under chapter 453, and a podiatrist licensed under chapter 463E.  The term shall not mean any nursing institution or nursing service conducted by and for those who rely upon treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone, or employees of the institution or service."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________