HB 540 - HEALTH CARE DATA; BIRTH REGISTRATIONS                              
                                                                               
 CO-CHAIR BUNDE announced that the next item on the agenda was HB              
 540, an act relating to health care data and registration of                  
 births.                                                                       
                                                                               
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 JOHN MIDDAUGH, MD, Chief, Division of Public Health, Department of            
 Health and Social Services, said HB 540 is a housekeeping bill but            
 also has important significance.  He said, after 20 years of                  
 effort, his department was successful in obtaining a federal grant,           
 as a result of legislation passed by Congress, to establish a new             
 statewide cancer registry.  He said his department has successfully           
 moved towards implementation of the registry and promulgated                  
 regulations in order to do so.                                                
                                                                               
 Representative Vezey joined the committee meeting at 4:45 p.m.                
                                                                               
 MR. MIDDAUGH said the federal legislation requires certain                    
 components which could not be incorporated into state regulations.            
 He said, in order to maintain eligibility under this program, which           
 includes federal funding of $420,000 per year for a five year                 
 project period, the state needs to include three provisions:                  
 protection from civil liability for providers who report under                
 state law; provisions that assure access to the medical records               
 which would establish characteristics of the diseases that are                
 required to be reported; and provisions to provide for appropriate            
 protection of data and access to data for research.  He said these            
 provisions have been endorsed by the Alaska State Medical                     
 Association, who support this effort.                                         
                                                                               
 MR. MIDDAUGH said there is another component to HB 540 which                  
 relates to birth records and said Mr. Zangri will discuss this                
 section.                                                                      
                                                                               
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 AL ZANGRI, Chief, Vital Statistics, Division of Public Health,                
 Department of Health and Social Services, was next to testify.  He            
 said HB 540 is a housekeeping bill for his department.  He said the           
 primary objective of HB 540 is to bring the Alaska statute into               
 line regarding the way the state of Alaska registers births that              
 occur in foreign air space or international waters and land in                
 Alaska.  He said these changes are made as a result of strong                 
 suggestions from the National Center for Health Statistics.  He               
 said the primary objective of HB 540 is to fully implement the                
 state's electronic birth system.  He said this system would allow             
 the state to register births from hospitals by electronic means               
 rather than the records being shipped to the department, via floppy           
 disks.  He said the state needs the ability to eliminate the                  
 individual signature on every birth certificate and allow an                  
 electronic registration method so that these births can be recorded           
 over modems.  He concluded that HB 540 will allow the state to do             
 this.                                                                         
                                                                               
 GARREY PESKA, Lobbyist, Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home                
 Association, said he supported HB 540.                                        
                                                                               
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 REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON made a motion to move HB 540 with                     
 individual recommendations and zero fiscal note.  A roll call vote            
 was taken on HB 540.  Representatives Vezey, G. Davis, Rokeberg,              
 Robinson, Toohey and Bunde voted yea.  Representative Brice voted             
 nay.  HB 540 was moved from the House Standing Committee on Health,           
 Education and Social Services.