Bill Text: HI SCR4 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 4 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting The Legislative Reference Bureau To Conduct A Study Of The Necessity For The Certificate Of Need Process Under Chapter 323d, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-16 - The committee on GVO deferred the measure. [SCR4 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-SCR4-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	4
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE Reference BUREAU TO CONDUCT A STUDY OF THE NECESSITY FOR THE CERTIFICATE OF NEED PROCESS UNDER CHAPTER 323D, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES.

WHEREAS, Certificate of Need (CON) programs are state-level regulatory programs that require approval from a state health planning agency for construction, expansion, and major capital expenditures by health care facilities and services; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's CON law, codified in part V of chapter 323D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, was established in 1975 in response to the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974 (NHPRDA), which conditioned the award of federal public health service grants upon a state's adoption of such regulatory measures; and

WHEREAS, in 1987, the federal mandate and funding provisions of NHPRDA were repealed; and

WHEREAS, since the repeal of NHPRDA, twelve states have fully repealed their CON programs, while several other states have narrowed the application of their CON laws to only certain types of facilities; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's law requires the State Health Planning and Development Agency to approve a CON for the construction, expansion, alteration, conversion, development, initiation, or modification of all health care facilities or health care services in the State; and

WHEREAS, like many other states' CON laws, Hawaii's CON law is intended to provide a coordinated system that links statewide planning for health services with facilities development; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's CON Program, like other programs nationwide, has been criticized on several bases, which include:

(1) Hampering the efficient performance of health care markets by creating barriers to entry and expansion, restricting free and open competition, and limiting consumer choice, resulting in higher prices;

(2) Hampering innovation and improvements in the delivery of better health care by limiting competition;

(3) Inconsistency in the administration of the program; and

(4) Not achieving its objective of controlling health care costs; and

WHEREAS, national health care reform and other changes taking place in the health care marketplace make it appropriate to examine the relevancy of Hawaii's CON program and its effects on health care access, quality, and costs; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to conduct a study of the necessity for the CON process under chapter 323D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, with respect to:

(1) The role of the CON program;

(2) Whether certain facilities, types of facilities, or services should be exempt from the CON process; and

(3) Whether modifications made to the CON process in other states may be beneficial to implement in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to make appropriate recommendations to eliminate or modify the CON process; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations regarding the CON process, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2022; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, Administrator of the State Health Planning and Development Agency, and Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau.