STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1151

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 943

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 943, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY SPECIAL FUND,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the civil monetary penalty special fund for the deposit of monies from federal fines assessed against skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies during inspections conducted by the Department of Health on behalf of the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health.

     Your Committees find that from time to time, the Office of Health Care Assurance issues federal deficiency citations on skilled nursing facilities that rise to the level of requiring a federal civil monetary penalty.  If the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services assesses and collects the fine from the health care facility, a portion of the fine is shared with the Office of Health Care Assurance.  Furthermore, because these monies come from a source other than state fines and fees and the monies must be used only for United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved activities, there is a need to create a special fund to allow the Department of Health to deposit and expend these federal monies for appropriate services.

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 943, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 943, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair