HI HB713

Appropriates $250,000 from general revenues to the Department of Human Services for fiscal year 2025-2026 to conduct a rate study on Medicaid home health services in Hawaii.

Finds that home health agencies in Hawaii have lost an average of $1,186 per Medicaid patient served, causing the proportion of Medicaid patients treated to decline from 25% to 16% between 2020 and 2024.

Notes that healthcare position vacancy rates in home health services reached 39% in 2022, the highest among all professions, due to insufficient reimbursement making recruitment and retention difficult.

Establishes that home health agencies were excluded from previous federal rate studies for other home and community-based service providers and therefore have not had their Medicaid rates reviewed or updated accordingly.

Effective date is July 1, 2025.