SB2542 GET Tax Exemption for clinics owned and run by APRNs and Physicians

Hello HAPN Members:

Please see below testimony drafted for SB2542, a bill to exempt Physicians from having to pay GET on their income from payors.  This bill DOES NOT currently have APRNs in it.  We need to make our voices loud and clear that APRNs must be added to this bill.  Please see an EXAMPLE of language we used in submitting this bill for testimony.  Please make your own changes and put it in your own voice.  Testimony MUST be submitted by 2/11 9am for it to be included.  

To:                  The Honorable Senator Rosalyn Baker, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health

From:              Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses (HAPN)

Subject:           SB2542– Relating to Health

Hearing:          February 12, 2020, 9:00 a.m. Conference room 229, State Capitol

Aloha Senator Baker, Chair; Senator Chang, Vice Chair; Committee Members Senator Nishihara, Senator Ruderman, Senator Thielen, Senator Wakai, and Senator Fevella

Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony regarding SB2542. HAPN is in support with amendments of removing financial barriers to care through eliminating taxes imposed on hospitals, medical clinics, and private medical practices that are performed by licensed practitioners. We respectfully request an amendment to include APRNs pursuant to chapter 457 added to page 4, line 16.  APRNs have been working diligently to meet the healthcare needs in our communities through providing safe, cost effective, and excellent care through opening our own practices throughout Hawaii.  Already, our reimbursement from third party payors is reduced anywhere from 15-25% or more as compared to our physician counterparts while we complete the exact same service.  Removing taxes imposed will provide some relief.  

The bill should read as follows:

"§237-    Exemption for medical services; physicians; advanced practice registered nurses.  (a)  There shall be exempted from, and excluded from the measure of, the taxes imposed by this chapter, all of the gross proceeds arising from medical services provided by physicians and advanced practice registered nurses acting in the capacity as a primary care provider.

     (b)  As used in this section, "medical services" provided by physicians and advanced practice registered nurses acting in the capacity as a primary care provider includes those services provided within hospitals, medical clinics, and private medical practices that are performed by licensed practitioners that are rendered under chapter 453 or chapter 457."

HAPN has worked to be the voice of APRNs across our state, spearheading the move to full practice authority, a responsibility trusted in us by the patients we work with every day.  We have worked to improve the physical and mental health of our communities.  As our ability to provide close care with our patients progressed, we also opened up our own clinics to provide the care our patients deserve.  The cost of doing business in Hawaii is high, the cost of living is very high, and insurance reimbursement for APRNs in Hawaii is low.  

APRNs have played an important role in the healthcare of our communities and we will continue to be by our patients’ side as they make many different healthcare decisions throughout their lives.  Doing business in Hawaii has continued to levy its challenges as the cost of care continues to increase and the reimbursement from third party payors for these services continue to make it difficult to make ends meet.  We, among many of our APRN colleagues, are entrepreneurs and have opened clinics in our communities to meet the growing physical and mental healthcare needs.

Thank you for the opportunity to share the perspective of HAPN with your committee. Thank you for your enduring support of APRNs in the Aloha State.