Legislature(1999 - 2000)
03/03/1999 01:35 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 56-HOME HEALTH AGENCIES/HOSPITALS/HOSPICES
VICE-CHAIRMAN KELLY asked Elmer Lindstrom to address SB 56, and
announced that Senator Wilken will take the lead on most of the
discussion as he was co-chairman of the Long-Term Care Task Force
(LTCTF).
Number 065
MR. ELMER LINDSTROM, Special Assistant to the Department of
Health & Social Services, briefly stated SB 56 has two primary
purposes. First, it would allow the department to continue to
provide a licensing regime for home health agencies which it has
been doing under the general powers of the department for some
time. Recently the Department of Law recommended the department
acquire specific statutory authority to license this type of
agency. The bill is technical in nature, giving explicit
authority to the department to continue licensing these agencies.
More importantly, MR. LINDSTROM continued, the legislation also
gives the department the ability to disclose to the public
licensing reports on all of the types of facilities and agencies.
It is a good consumer protection measure, and useful information
for persons shopping for a type of facility. He said it's a
"clean little bill," endorsed by the LTCTF and the department.
MR. LINDSTROM brought up one suggested amendment. The home
health language is placed in AS 18.28 which relates to state
assistance for community health aide programs and has no relation
to the additional material being added to AS 18.28. Department
staff suggested that AS 18.18 would be a more appropriate place
to put the language. If the committee is interested in making
that change, MR. LINDSTROM requested that his staff be able to
work with Legal Services to quickly resolve it.
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VICE-CHAIRMAN KELLY stated it's a good idea, and he recommended
that the amendment be drafted before the series of bills is again
taken up by the committee.
SENATOR WILKEN commented that SB 56 relates to Recommendation #3
of the LTCTF, and he referred to the report backup. He said this
legislation has the wholehearted endorsement of the task force
and the committee.
VICE-CHAIRMAN KELLY mentioned that Mr. Dwight Becker is on
teleconference, and asked Mr. Becker if he is available to answer
questions on SB 56 or any of the other bills. MR. BECKER
responded he would address SB 57 and SB 58.
SENATOR WILKEN commented that SB 56 opens the record, and asked
if it is essentially a consumer information bill.
MR. LINDSTROM replied "absolutely," and the prohibition on being
able to disclose this information is a relic of an old federal
law. SENATOR WILKEN asked if the legislation protects identifi-
cation of specific clients or personal data. MR. LINDSTROM
responded he's very certain the licensing reports would always
protect the confidentiality of clients.
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SENATOR ELTON mentioned to the zero fiscal note on SB 56. He
asked if staff would go through the files to purge client names
when someone comes in to ask for disclosure of records.
MR. LINDSTROM replied he doesn't believe the license reports
would contain confidential information on individual patients.
SENATOR WILKEN asked Mr. Livey if he would like to add to the
discussion on SB 56. He declined to do so.
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