Bill Text: HI SB655 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Expedited Partner Therapy; Health Professionals; Prescription Drugs; Labeling; Record Keeping

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-07-09 - Act 250, 7/1/2013 (Gov. Msg. No. 1353). [SB655 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB655-Amended.html

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 79

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 655

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 655 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow physicians to prescribe medication, without examination, to the partner of a patient who has been diagnosed as having chlamydia or gonorrhea.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Hawaii Rehabilitation Counseling Association, Hawaii Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives, Hawaii Medical Association, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and six individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Association for Justice.

 

     Your Committee finds that many patients who have been diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases have sexual partners who refuse to seek treatment.  Your Committee finds that thirty-two states already have laws allowing expedited partner therapy, which allows physicians to prescribe medication for partners of a patient diagnosed with sexually transmitted disease without first examining them.  Your Committee finds that the practice of expedited partner therapy will greatly reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases in the State.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing all references from "partner" to "partners" to allow for multiple prescriptions to be issued to more than one partner of a patient, if medically necessary;

 

     (2)  Amending the definition of "sexually transmitted disease" to mean any sexually transmitted disease recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for expedited partner therapy including but not limited to chlamydia, gonorrhea, and human immunodeficiency virus;

 

     (3)  Changing references from "single-dose antibiotic therapy" to "antibiotic therapy" to allow the physician to prescribe what is medically necessary;

 

     (4)  Amending certain specifics to be included on the information sheet, making them subject to the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 655, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 655, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair

 

 

 

 

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