RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF COMMITTED PERSONS.

HB854

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

854

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating
to mental health issues of committed persons
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION 1.
�
The legislature finds that mental health
services in correctional facilities must be a priority.
�
Act 144, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007,
appropriated funds and required reporting to address the mental health crisis
in prisons.
�
Since Act 144 appropriated
funds to the department of public safety, now known as the department of
corrections and rehabilitation, the department has submitted reports on its
implementation of the Act's funds and priorities.

The department's report for
2023 outlined the electronic health record system as "the leading
challenge for the Health Care Division."
�

The current record keeping system, eClinicalWorks, was inoperable from
June 2022 to February 2023, leaving employees without access to thousands of
necessary medical records.
�
The
inaccessible data included lab work, prescriptions, referrals for care,
follow-up appointments, and other essential information.
�
The software crashed due to a failure to
update the system according to periodic software updates, in part because funds
were never made available to purchase the updates.
�
Instead of making these necessary software
improvements, the department was operating on the original version of the
program.

The report identified that the
procurement process for an electronic health record system was interrupted by
the pandemic.
�
While the department
became a receiving participant with Hawaii Health Information Exchange in 2019,
it is still evident that more progress is needed to ensure incarcerated
individuals experience adequate access to health care and health records.

����
The purpose of this Act is to:

����
(1)
�
Provide funds to
the department of corrections and rehabilitation to execute a contract to
update and replace the electronic record keeping system; and

����
(2)
�
Require the
department to report to the legislature information regarding electronic record
keeping for medical records.

����
SECTION 2.
�
There is appropriated out of the general
revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $500,000, or so much thereof as may
be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as
may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for procuring a new software for the
department of corrections and rehabilitation's electronic record keeping system
used for maintaining medical records of incarcerated persons in state-operated
correctional facilities and any necessary software updates that may follow.

����
The sum appropriated shall be
expended by the department of corrections and rehabilitation for the purposes
of this Act.

����
SECTION 3.
�
The department of corrections and
rehabilitation shall report to the legislature by November 1, 2025, with
information that addresses the following:

����
(1)
�
Any steps taken
towards procuring a new contract for electronic record keeping after the
procurement process was interrupted by the pandemic;

����
(2)
�
The sufficiency of
the current software administered by eClinicalWorks;

����
(3)
�
Any particular
inadequacies with the existing electronic record keeping software that should
be addressed in the next procurement;

����
(4)
�
Efforts to
accomplish electronic information sharing in collaboration with the department
of health and the department of human services to better serve the medical
needs of incarcerated individuals;

����
(5)
�
A list of
potential third party entities which would be able to offer software and
services sufficient to meet the electronic record keeping needs of the
department; and

����
(6)
�
Methods by which
the legislature may assist the department in procuring a new electronic record
keeping software.

����
SECTION 4.
�
This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Electronic Record Keeping; DC&R; Medical Records;
Reporting; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates $500,000, for each year of the fiscal
biennium to the department of corrections and rehabilitation to procure a new
software for electronic record keeping of medical records.
�
Requires a report to the legislature.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.