Bill Text: HI SB2566 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Medical and Rehabilitation Benefits
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2010-07-06 - (S) Vetoed on 07-06-10 - Returned from the Governor without approval (Gov. Msg. No. 675). [SB2566 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-SB2566-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 695-10
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2010
RE: S.B. No. 2566
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2010
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2566 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL AND REHABILITATION BENEFITS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that injured workers have access to appropriate care by clarifying that a physician or surgeon may conduct diagnostic testing or engage in a one-time consultation for a subspecialty diagnostic evaluation and treatment recommendations from a board certified or licensed specialist without contest by an insurer or employer.
The Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaii Chapter-American Physical Therapy Association, ILWU Local 142, Hawaii Injured Workers Alliance, Vocational Management Consultants, Inc., and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Human Resources Development, Hawaii Insurers Council, and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America testified in opposition to this measure.
The ability to diagnose an injury or illness accurately and expeditiously should be an uncontested right of all licensed physicians. However, that ability is frequently thwarted by payers who undermine a treating doctor's efforts using tactics such as "denial pending investigation," "denial pending an independent medical exam," or simply not responding to a physician's efforts to clarify an injured worker's condition. Although done as a means of "cost control" or "utilization management," these efforts undermine treating physicians' abilities to clarify the patient's condition and efficiently focus on available treatments.
Your Committee is aware of concerns that where a surgeon or physician has a financial interest in a medical facility, referring a case for consultation to a board certified or licensed specialist working within that facility may be a conflict of interest. Thus, a physician or surgeon may seek consultation elsewhere, which ultimately will increase the costs of providing proper medical care to injured workers. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by providing that a physician or surgeon may seek consultation from a board certified or licensed specialist working in the same medical facility regardless of whether the surgeon or physician has a financial interest in the facility.
Technical, nonsubstantive amendments have also been made for clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2566, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2566, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,
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____________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair |
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