HI HR82

Requests the Department of Health, in partnership with local experts, to establish a Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate Center of Excellence to serve families throughout Hawaii with children affected by these birth defects.

Center of Excellence should promote awareness of cleft lip and cleft palate birth defects and provide resources and information to affected families.

Requires the Department of Health to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the 2012 Regular Session convening, detailing strategies for establishing the center and discussing statewide collaborative efforts to promote it.

Notes that approximately 6,800 babies are born annually with oral-facial clefts in the United States, with higher incidence among Asian ancestry and certain Native American groups, and that treatment requires a coordinated team of specialists.