Section 346-421 - Health analytics program; appointments(a) There is established within the department of human services the health analytics program.(b) The head of the program shall be known as the health analytics and informatics program administrator, hereinafter referred to as analytics administrator. The analytics administrator shall have professional training in the field of health analytics or a related field, and recent experience in a supervisory, consultative, or administrative position. The analytics administrator shall be appointed by the director and shall be exempt from chapter 76. Notwithstanding section 76-16(b)(17), this exemption shall not expire.(c) The director may make further necessary position appointments to the health analytics program to conduct data analytics, informatics product development to support healthcare services programs, and any other necessary services, including administrative services, required to perform the duties of the program. Three of these positions shall be a senior healthcare analytics and research coordinator, a program and contracts financial coordinator, and a healthcare statistician, who shall all be exempt from chapter 76. Notwithstanding section 76-16(b)(17), the exemptions for these positions shall not expire.(d) The health analytics program shall develop, design, or implement databases, primarily an all-claims, all-payer database, and an encompassing data center to collect and analyze healthcare data. The health analytics program may provide, in consultation with the state health planning and development agency, the department of health, the department of commerce and consumer affairs, the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund, and the University of Hawaii, comparative cost and quality information about Hawaii's healthcare systems and health plan networks to consumers, providers, and purchasers of healthcare in order to provide comparative information to government policy makers and residents of the State.(e) The health analytics program may procure services in consultation with the department of health, and may perform technical tasks including data management, data cleansing, data quality, data analytics, and related activities that the program finds necessary to produce reports. The program and all associated technical vendors shall use the best available privacy and security measures, as required by law, to protect access to electronic protected health information, and shall provide for further analysis of data that is in limited datasets or de-identified formats, within the confines of the established data governance framework as provided in rules adopted by the department pursuant to chapter 91. All data sharing, use, and research shall be done in accordance with all applicable laws, including laws regarding privacy, confidentiality, and research.(f) Subject to available funding, the health analytics program is authorized to serve as the contracting and data center designee of the state health planning and development agency.(g) The health analytics program may contract with the pacific health informatics and data center of the University of Hawaii, as a data analytics partner to the State. The University of Hawaii may conduct core or additional analytics functions and produce reports for the program and the state health planning and development agency in this capacity.(h) The health analytics program shall develop a plan for the analysis, maintenance, and publication of data, in consultation with the department of health, the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund, the office of enterprise technology services, the insurance division of the department of commerce and consumer affairs, and the University of Hawaii. The plan shall be updated annually.(i) The department of human services shall adopt administrative rules pursuant to chapter 91 for the purposes of this part.Added by L 2018, c 55,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2018.