STAND. COM. REP. NO. 96

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 664

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 664 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to expand the class of health care providers under whom respiratory therapists may practice respiratory care to include physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i-American Nurses Association, Hawai‘i Association of Professional Nurses, and Hawai‘i Academy of Physician Assistants. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Board of Nursing, Hawaii Medical Board, and Hawaii Society for Respiratory Care.

Your Committee finds that respiratory therapy is the health care discipline specializing in the promotion of optimum cardiopulmonary function, health, and wellness. Your Committee further finds that respiratory therapists in the State must practice under the direction of a licensed physician. This requirement, in conjunction with the health care provider shortage in the State, results in severely limited ability for residents to access respiratory therapy, especially in rural and underserved areas. This measure opens access to respiratory care in the State by authorizing respiratory therapists to practice under the order and direction of health care providers other than physicians.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that physician assistants are authorized to sign orders for respiratory therapy and plans of care;

(2) Clarifying that respiratory therapists must practice under the order and qualified direction of other specified health care providers, rather than under the direct order and qualified medical direction of other specified health care providers;

(3) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 664, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 664, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health & Homelessness,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair