STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1176-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2529

S.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health & Homelessness, to which was referred S.B. No. 2529, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROVIDER ORDERS FOR LIFE SUSTAINING TREATMENT FORM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the definition of "patient's provider" to allow licensed physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician assistants to sign Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment for their patients without a face-to-face encounter.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i; Hawaii Medical Service Association; AlohaCare Hawaii Association of Health Plans; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; Kōkua Mau; Hospice Hawaii, Inc. dba Navian Hawaii; Hawai‘i Care Choices; and nine individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) are portable medical orders intended for persons with a chronic debilitating illness or life-limiting disease that provide instructions for the patient's care plan out of a hospital, including the patient's instructions for the provision of resuscitative or life-sustaining measures. Your Committee further finds that language in existing law for POLST forms can be interpreted as requiring a face-to-face encounter between a health care provider and a patient before the POLST form can be signed by the provider. This requirement can result in patients receiving unwanted treatment if a POLST with the most current directions is not in place. This measure aligns Hawaii's POLST law with other states and is intended to reduce unnecessary delays for patients seeking to obtain or update a POLST, while also maintaining appropriate safeguards for patient safety

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 S.B. No. 2529, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair