Lawmakers urged to act
against diploma millsUnregulated scams will affect
By Pat Omandam
the quality of accredited institutions,
an education official warns
Star-BulletinThe state needs to address the increasing number of diploma mills here or the quality of higher education in Hawaii will suffer, warns the head of the regional agency that accredits the University of Hawaii system. If action is not taken, Hawaii will become a haven for unregulated scams that will affect the quality of education at accredited institutions like the University of Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University, and unaccredited ones that still demand legitimate coursework for a degree, said Ralph Wolff, executive director of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
"We're very concerned about it, and I would welcome the opportunity to work with you," Wolff told a Senate-House higher education panel yesterday.
A House bill that tackles diploma mills -- unaccredited universities that offer degrees for a fee and require no academic work be completed -- is now pending before the Senate Consumer Protection Committee.
The committee is scheduled to vote on the measure tomorrow.
Wolff and Patrick Callan, executive director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, met with the joint panel to discuss the relationship between state government and a state university.
They said the problem of legislative interference at the UH is much less than a decade ago, a time when politics heavily influenced university decisions, according to some.
Wolff explained the commission understands there are different levels of legislative interference when it evaluates the university.
The bottom line, he said, is that any accrediting team needs assurances that UH academic goals, planned by administrators and regents, are not be sidetracked by state legislation which aren't in line with those goals.
"That's when we feel that the line gets crossed," Wolff said.
Meanwhile, Callan said UH autonomy bills pending in the Legislature mirror trends toward giving universities more control.
Callan, whose group has done major studies dealing with state and federal policy issues in higher education, said the days when government had a large say on what and how things get done at a university are now considered past.
The old style made it hard to determine responsibility when university problems arose, he added.
He said public universities today need to be nimble, flexible and entrepreneurial to keep up with changes in education, the economy and technology.
"The old system that served many states very well now seems out of sync," Callan said.
House resolution seeks
By Helen Altonn
better medical contracts
Star-BulletinTom Russi and Christine Paul of Kailua-Kona have been trying for two years to find out why their community hospital received an insurance payment of only $10,000 for a $24,000 bill. They appeared before the House Health Committee to support a resolution asking the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. to recommend steps to improve contracts and reimburseable costs for medical services.
Russi said his wife, Christine, nearly died in May 1996 because Kona Community Hospital "didn't have enough money to hire a qualified, full-time emergency room doctor who could diagnose her ruptured appendix.
"Instead, they had a rent-a-doctor from Island Emergency Care," he told lawmakers. "She laid there for 18 hours, and if it weren't for the exceptional care she received from the hospital staff after that, she would have died."
Russi said the hospital received only $10,000 from the Hawaii Medical Service Association toward the bill.
"We know the community hospital system is suffering because of poor contract negotiations.... HMSA is an 800-pound gorilla with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude," he said.
The couple's efforts to obtain copies of the HMSA/Kona Community Hospital contract have been unsuccessful, Russi said.
He said the state Office of Information Practices has been helpful but is restricted from releasing what HMSA says is confidential business information in the contracts.
"If you went to buy a car and they said, 'Pay us the money, then we'll tell you what it costs,' that's what's going on here," Russi said.
He urged legislators to obtain the contracts to see "firsthand how poor these contract reimbursements are compared to the national averages."
Thomas M. Driskill Jr., Hawaii Health Systems Corp. president and chief executive officer, said Russi's "point is well taken."
He said the corporation is improving its bargaining position with all insurers. "We still have a long way to go."
Driskill urged passage of bills pending in the Legislature to eliminate some operational constraints hampering the corporation's ability to negotiate effectively.
Meanwhile, he said, the corporation is getting monthly financial reports for all facilities.
"We're getting an understanding where we are," he said.
"We're not going to sign any contract that isn't reasonable, and it's making a difference."
He cited purchases of medical supplies as the best example of what's been going on in the hospitals.
He said 12 of the hospitals joined into a contract to take advantage of volume discounts and opportunities, but they're still negotiating 12 different rates.
Materials should be negotiated at a system rate, he said.
"We have strength as a system if we think like that."
LEGISLATURE UPDATE
A calendar of tomorrow's hearings -- to be held at the state Capitol, 415 S. Beretania St., unless noted:
HOUSE
Labor and Public Employment: Hearing on resolutions requesting provision of tourism training on the neighbor islands, and requesting all state employees to use the word "aloha" as an official greeting when meeting the public or answering phone calls. Decision-making to follow, 8:30 a.m., Room 309.
SENATE
