Bill Text: HI SB3105 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Health Care Providers; Financial Interest; Self-referral; Referral Practices; Disclosure
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-03-11 - Re-referred to HLT/CPC, JUD, referral sheet 27 [SB3105 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2016-SB3105-Introduced.html
|
THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
3105 |
|
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016 |
|
|
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to HEALTH CARE referrals.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that national and government studies have shown that physician ownership of health care facilities may lead to higher rates of self-referral, unnecessary testing, and overutilization of services.
The legislature further finds that the recent decision in Pacific Radiation Oncology et al., v. The Queen's Medical Center et al., 2014 WL 6749117 (Nov. 30, 2014), prohibits physicians from referring patients to treatment centers in which the physicians have a financial interest only for services subject to no-fault motor vehicle insurance. This distinction created by the court allows physicians to refer patients to facilities in which the physician has a financial interest for all other kinds of injury or sickness not arising from motor vehicle accidents.
This court-created distinction is not consistent with the language of section 431:10C-308.7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which requires health care providers to disclose their financial interests when referring patients to facilities in which the providers have a financial interest.
The purpose of this Act is to clarify that a health care provider who refers patients to facilities in which the health care provider has a financial interest must provide patients with sufficient information regarding the financial incentives for the referral, in order to allow the patient to make meaningful treatment decisions.
SECTION 2. Chapter 431, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to article 10 to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§431:10- Prohibited health care provider self-referral practices. (a) No health care provider shall refer, for any service or treatment, a patient to any entity in which the referring provider has a financial interest unless the referring provider has disclosed that financial interest to the patient.
(b) The health care provider shall make the disclosure required by this section in advance and in writing, and shall obtain the signature of the patient and retain the disclosure form for a period of two years. The health care provider shall include in the disclosure a statement indicating that the patient is free to choose a different health care provider.
(c) The regulated industries complaints office, department of commerce and consumer affairs, may initiate investigations and disciplinary action to enforce violations of this section.
(d) For the purposes of this section:
"Financial interest" means an ownership or investment interest through debt, equity, or any other means. "Financial interest" does not mean salary or other compensation paid to physicians by a health maintenance organization, or any compensation arrangement involving payment by a group practice that contracts with a health maintenance organization to a physician in the same group practice or entity affiliated with the health maintenance organization for services provided to a member of the health maintenance organization.
"Health care provider" means any person who is licensed to provide health care services pursuant to chapter 436E, 442, 448, 452, 453, 455, 457G, 459, 461J, 463E, or 465.
(e) A violation of this section shall be deemed an unfair method of competition and an unfair or deceptive trade act or practice in violation of section 480-2."
SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and shall apply retroactively to January 1, 2008.
|
INTRODUCED BY: |
_____________________________ |
|
|
|
Report Title:
Health Care Providers; Financial Interest; Referral Practices; Disclosure
Description:
Requires that health care providers who refer patients to facilities in which the provider has a financial interest disclose the financial incentives associated with the referral to patients, and establishes that failure to do so is an unfair or deceptive trade act or practice. Effective retroactively to January 1, 2008.
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
