Erin Chun, Sonia Lipka, Kate Takahashi, Krystle Barroga, Michelle Popek

NURS362, Health Care Policy

2-9-15
The Senate Bill 296 enable caregivers to provide competent post hospital care to family
members and other designated caregivers at a minimum cost to tax payers. This is an effort to
reduce readmission and better train family care givers. This bill will essentially save money for
Hawaii hospitals and taxpayers by decreasing the number of readmissions and subsequent costs
incurred from readmissions. With our elderly population living longer, the trend is going
towards family members caring for their loved ones at home.
This new bill will also produce positive and negative effects among the community. In
the future this would mean that there will be fewer patients in the hospital; therefore, the demand
of hospital staff will decrease. Also there may be an increase of home health care nurses visiting
the residences. This is going to shift nurses in acute care setting to home health care. As states
in Epiphanious article titled Adjusting to the care giving role, inexperienced caregivers are
feeling the strain of caring for their chronically ill loved ones and not being able to perform the
necessary skills to provide the best care possible. Along with activities of daily living, primary
care givers will be required to have more training in complex medical care which includes foley
care, tracheotomy care and NG care. With the additional training this will lead to less stress on
the caregiver and improve on caregivers emotional well-being. (Elkins, Weatherland, 38)
According to the Hawaii Health information corporation, in 2013 there were
approximately 5,500 hospitals readmission each lasting 30 days. Hospitals are getting penalized
for excessive readmission and are not meeting federal hospital guidelines. This is a problem that
is associated with approximately $239, 000,000 in Hawaii health care.

In conclusion, we feel that this bill will improve the quality of life for the patients. It will
also facilitate better communication between nursing staff and designated caregivers. There by
reducing miscommunication and HIPPA violations. This will contribute the continuity of care.

REFERENCES
Elkins, Z., & Weatherhead, I. (2014). Mental health support: reducing the carer's strain. Practice
Nursing, 25(1), 37-39.
Epiphaniou, E., Hamilton, D., Bridger, S., Robinson, V., Rob, G., Beynon, T., & ... Harding, R.
(2012). Adjusting to the caregiving role: the importance of coping and support. International
Journal Of Palliative Nursing, 18(11), 541-545.
Hawaii State Legislature. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/