02/25/1997 03:06 PM House HES

 HB 114 - HEALTH CARE DATA; BIRTH REGISTRATIONS                              
                                                                               
 Number 0023                                                                   
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN BUNDE announced the first item on the agenda was HB 114,             
 "An Act relating to health care data and registration of births."             
                                                                               
 Number 0077                                                                   
                                                                               
 GAYLE WOLF, student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, an                 
 intern for the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing           
 Committee, was first to testify.  She said HB 114 was introduced              
 last year as HB 540 at the request of the Department of Health and            
 Social Services (DHSS), passed the House unanimously, was referred            
 to the Senate for consideration but was never voted on because the            
 legislature adjourned before the bill was addressed.                          
                                                                               
 MS. WOLF said HB 114 will accomplish changes in law needed to                 
 assure that the DHSS has access to information on diseases and                
 conditions of public health significance which are essential to               
 carry out disease surveillance, control and prevention activities.            
 It will establish explicit civil immunity for providers who comply            
 with requirements to report health care data and assure access by             
 DHSS to health records needed to carry out its mandates and to                
 conduct research for the purposes of protecting and promoting                 
 public health.  These provisions are required to maintain                     
 eligibility for the $420,000 per year federal grant which supports            
 operation of a registry of cancer occurrences within the state.               
 The bill will also make the needed changes which will allow full              
 implementation of the Electronic Birth Certificate system,                    
 clarifying the rules for filing and registering births occurring en           
 route to Alaska.                                                              
                                                                               
 Number 0238                                                                   
                                                                               
 MS. WOLF said HB 114 will: Allow certification of births to occur             
 by an electronic process rather than only allowing certification by           
 a signature on a paper certificate and will shift the place of                
 filing to recognize electronic filing, reducing filing time from              
 seven to five days to comply with requirements of the National                
 Center for Health Statistics; it will clarify rules for filing and            
 registering births occurring on moving conveyances in international           
 waters, air space, foreign waters or air space en route to Alaska             
 to comply with the model Vital Statistics Act.  She said HB 114               
 contains two zero fiscal notes.                                               
                                                                               
 Number 0322                                                                   
                                                                               
 JOHN MIDDAUGH, MD; Chief, Epidemiology Section, Division of Public            
 Health, Department of Health and Social Services, testified next              
 via teleconference from Anchorage.  He commended Ms. Wolf's                   
 presentation of HB 114, as it covered everything that the bill is             
 designed to do.  He said this bill is important because it allows             
 DHSS to be in compliance with the federal grant which fully funds             
 the state's cancer registry.  The registry is within a month or two           
 of providing its first data analysis.                                         
                                                                               
 Number 0421                                                                   
                                                                               
 MICHAEL H. MILLER was next to testify.  He said he has a vested               
 interest in HB 114 as he has metastatic prostate cancer which has             
 spread to bone cancer.  He said, like anything else, you don't                
 understand it until you are there and he is there.  He said one in            
 five men will come down with prostate cancer, four out of ten                 
 Americans will come down with cancer in general.  He referred to              
 folders, located in the committee file, to show the committee what            
 California has done.  The statistics list the California cancer               
 data from 1996 and 1997.                                                      
                                                                               
 MR. MILLER said, in 1996, 10 million Californians had cancer which            
 is about one in three, whereas in 1997 there were 14 million which            
 is about two in five.  He said, in 1996, 822,000 and, in 1997, one            
 million people had cancer and survived.  He said 350,600 were                 
 diagnosed with a five or more year survival rate in 1996 and in               
 1997 they project 425,000.  He said, in 1996, 135,950 Californians            
 were diagnosed as having cancer which is almost 16 new cases every            
 hour of every day and added that California has a lower number than           
 the national average.  In 1997, California projects that number               
 will go down to 131,920.                                                      
 Number 0628                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. MILLER said, in 1996, about 54,400 of the Californians who came           
 down with cancer will remain alive five years after diagnosis.  In            
 1997, 74,000 will be alive five years after diagnosis.  He said               
 this represents a change from 53 percent to 56 percent and said               
 this is significant to him because this figure is very motivating             
 for people who have cancer.  He said, in 1996, 52,685 people died             
 of cancer which equals 144 a day.  One out of every five deaths in            
 California is the result of cancer.  In 1997, this number will                
 increase to 53,610 which is about 147 people a day.                           
                                                                               
 Number 0693                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. MILLER said a greater amount of people can be saved with                  
 educating the public on the different types of cancers.  The more             
 education that we can provide to men about prostate cancer, the               
 lower the risk there will be.  Cancer is the second leading cause             
 of death, it accounted for 23 percent of deaths in 1996.  Heart               
 disease accounted for 31 percent.  He said the statistics don't               
 change that much for 1997.  In 1996, for all stages, there was a 77           
 percent for a five or more year survival rate and, in 1997, that              
 increased by 7 percent to 84 percent.  Localized cancer, which is             
 just in the prostate area, increased 5 percent between 1996 and               
 1997.  Regionalized cancer, which means that it can go a little bit           
 beyond the prostate area, increased 11 percent from 81 percent to             
 92 percent.  For distant cancer, it increased 4 percent.                      
                                                                               
 MR. MILLER said he would look at the 84 percent number and see it             
 as a motivation that life can be prolonged.  He commented that                
 where there is hope, there is life.                                           
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN BUNDE thanked him for sharing his personal experience with           
 the committee.  He said he appreciated it and wished him all the              
 best.                                                                         
                                                                               
 MR. MILLER said both his bone cancer and prostate cancer are in a             
 stable position.                                                              
                                                                               
 Number 0907                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER made a motion to move HB 114 with                 
 individual recommendations and zero fiscal notes.  Hearing no                 
 objection HB 114 was moved from the House Health, Education and               
 Social Services Committee.