STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1108

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 27

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 27 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES TO CONSIDER RAISING THE MEDICARE FEE SCHEDULE PAYMENT AMOUNTS FOR PHYSICIANS RENDERING SERVICES IN HAWAII,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to consider raising the Medicare fee schedule payment amounts for physicians rendering services in Hawaii.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Department of Human Services, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaii Pacific Health, and Hawaii Association for Justice.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committees find that Hawaii has relatively low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates due to lower private sector wages upon which the Geographic Practice Cost Index, that partially determines the Medicare fee schedule, is based.  Your Committees further find that inadequate reimbursements to physicians limit Medicare and Medicaid recipients' access to quality health care and threaten physicians' ability to continue practicing amid increasingly high costs in Hawaii.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 27, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 27, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair