Decision delayed on health insurer bill

April 29--Lawmakers deferred their decision until today on a controversial bill that would make the Hawaii Medical Service Association legally responsible for deaths or other harm as a result of undue delays in diagnostic tests.

House Bill 2740, which would establish pre-authorization standards for all Hawaii health insurers, was heard Wednesday and Thursday by a conference committee but deferred until 10 a.m. today as legislators try to reach a compromise on a final version of the bill.

Legislators drafted the measure after the Honolulu Star-Advertiser wrote a story in January about a new policy at HMSA that requires most of the roughly 3,000 physicians in its network to go through Arizona-based National Imaging Associates Inc. to approve diagnostic imaging exams, including MRIs, CT scans and other cardiac-related procedures for 720,000 members. Before the policy began Dec. 1, most doctors were given a waiver that allowed them to skip the pre-authorization step.

The pre-approval policy has stirred opposition from many Hawaii doctors who say it is delaying critical imaging tests, resulting in harmful consequences for patients. HMSA argues that the bill is flawed because it does not account for situations under which a physician might have contributed to the patient's delay in receiving health care during the pre-authorization process.

Kristen Consillio, kconsillio@staradvertiser.com

ON THE MOVE

Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has announced the following employees have joined the Leeward office as independent agents:

>> Scott Kusuda also currently serves as a teacher at Leilehua High School.

>> Michael Koroki is a retired government auditor/accountant.

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McDonald's of Hawaii has chosen Debbie Palpal-Latoc, one out of 340 top-performing managers, as a recipient of the prestigious Ray Kroc Award. The annual performance-based award recognizes top-performing McDonald's restaurant managers in the country. Palpal-Latoc joined McDonald's in 2001 as a crew member and later became crew trainer, full-time swing shift manager, assistant manager, restaurant manager in 2009 and currently is the general manager for the Waipouli McDonald's.

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