Bill Text: HI SB397 | 2023 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Professional Medicaid Services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-04-28 - Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday, 04-28-23 at 04:40pm in Conference Room 329. [SB397 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2023-SB397-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
397 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
S.D. 2 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO PROFESSIONAL MEDICAID SERVICES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that nearly one third
of Hawaii's residents, and half of all keiki, are enrolled in medicaid. Since the start of the coronavirus disease
2019 pandemic in March 2020, medicaid enrollment has increased by forty per
cent. However, timely access to
providers can prove difficult, especially in rural areas where health care
providers are in short supply.
In 2022, the State had a shortfall of
more than seven hundred fifty full-time physicians and almost four thousand
nonphysician, patient-facing health care workers, such as nurses, technicians,
and patient service representatives.
The legislature further finds that due to
the significant number of Hawaii residents receiving medicaid coverage, health
care providers often receive less reimbursement from medicaid than from
medicare or commercial insurances for the same service. While some providers, including critical
access hospitals, community health centers, and providers who perform certain services,
are reimbursed at cost or at the same rates as medicare, most individual health
care professionals, including physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and
advanced practice registered nurses, are not.
Lesser reimbursements contribute to the challenges providers face in
sustaining their practices, leading some health care providers to limit or refuse
to accept medicaid patients. Investing
in medicaid by matching medicaid reimbursement levels with those of medicare would
allow more health care providers to accept medicaid patients, improving access
to care.
Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to
appropriate funds to increase medicaid reimbursements to eligible health care
professionals to match the current medicare fee schedule.
SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 to increase medicaid reimbursements to eligible health care professionals in the State by up to one hundred per cent of the current medicare rates.
The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 3. The appropriations made by this Act shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year for which the appropriation is made; provided that all moneys from the appropriation unencumbered as of June 30, 2025, shall lapse as of that date.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on December 31, 2050.
Report Title:
Medicaid; Reimbursements; Medicare; Appropriation
Description:
Appropriates
funds to increase Medicaid reimbursements to eligible health care
professionals in the State by up to one hundred per cent of the current
Medicare rates. Effective
12/31/2050. (SD2)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
