The Senate’s Health and Human Services calendar advanced a set of bills addressing health workforce compensation, medication-abortion access and preceptor incentives.

Lawmakers voted to pass SB 1245, a bill on pharmacist reimbursement and practice within scope, with committee amendments informed by a prior Sunrise analysis and by agreements with Kaiser Permanente and other stakeholders. Corey Sanders of the Hawaii Pharmacists Association thanked the committee for collaborative work on payment framework language and noted ongoing discussions with DOH about federally qualified health centers. Testimony emphasized rural and neighbor-island access concerns; Molokai Drugs’ president described canceled medical flights and how pharmacy continuity matters for small-island communities.

SB 1246, to establish a medication-abortion stockpile, drew strong support from ACOG-affiliated physicians and grassroots groups and opposition from several public commenters. ACOG-affiliated testimony warned of national “threats to this basic health care” and described the practical reliance on medication abortion. The committee adopted the chair’s recommendation to pass with amendments and recorded a request to note a blank appropriation and a committee-requested $75,000 insertion in the committee report.

SB 1070, which concerns preceptor tax credits used to expand clinical training capacity, was advanced with technical amendments. Committee discussion addressed current program usage: staff reported that for the most recent year they documented roughly 673 tax credits (about $670,000) issued; analysts told senators that adding smaller professions (e.g., PAs, dietitians, social workers) is not expected to exhaust the statutory cap or deny applicants under current projections. The committee voted to pass SB 1070 with technical adjustments.

Other items on the HHS calendar — including bills on foreign medical graduates and a state breast milk bank — were deferred or passed based on committee recommendations; the committee recorded defective dates or technical amendments where appropriate.

Why it matters: The bills affect access to care on neighbor islands and in underserved areas by changing reimbursement rules for pharmacists, protecting supply lines for medication abortion, and expanding incentives for clinicians to take trainees. Committee actions direct agencies to record appropriation requests and to refine technical language before the bills move forward.

Next steps: Bills passed out of the committee will be reported to the full Senate/Rules for scheduling with the chairs’ recommended amendments; committee reports will include DOH or sponsor-supplied appropriation and staffing details where requested.