Gov. Neil Abercrombie plans to approve $1.5 million in emergency funds to support the Queen’s Medical Center in quickly launching an organ transplant facility to replace the one closed by the Hawaii Medical Center’s bankruptcy.

A bill was fast-tracked through the state Legislature and approved unanimously Friday by the House and Senate. Abercrombie scheduled a bill-signing ceremony for today at Queen’s.

"This bill will save lives, keep families together and promote healthy lifestyles," said Rep. Ryan Yamane (D, Waipahu-Mililani), the House Health Committee chairman.

Abercrombie, in his State of the State speech, urged lawmakers to move quickly on the emergency funds.

The bill would require Queen’s to provide matching funds to cover the estimated $3 million in startup costs for a new transplant facility. It also includes $300,000 to the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii, which would be matched by private donors to offer renal services to patients.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are tackling the issue of the state’s future without Hawaii Medical Center, which provided dialysis services to a great number of patients on Oahu and was the only organ transplant center in the Pacific. The center’s Ewa campus was the only full-service emergency hospital in West Oahu.

The shutdown hits especially hard in Hawaii where the rate of chronic kidney disease is higher than the national average, said Rep. Henry Aquino (D, Pearl City-Waipahu).

"This certainly is a disease that is not far from any of our homes," he said.

Hawaii Medical Center, which has been in bankruptcy since June, decided in December to shut down after a plan to sell the hospitals to a California-based company proved unworkable. HMC-East, in Liliha, closed in early January, a week after the center’s West campus in Ewa was shuttered.

The Senate Health Committee has scheduled an informational briefing for next week to hear from members of the medical community about the effects of the closures.

"Our goal is to better understand the timetable for the issuance of a new provider number, when the hospital could reopen, who might potentially acquire the facilities and what the current impact on health care access has been," said Sen. Josh Green (D, Milolii-Waimea), chairman of the Senate Health Committee. "We will be able to better assess the direction we’re heading as a result of the hearing."

Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the state Department of Health, Queen’s, Hawaii Pacific Health, Kaiser, Hawaii Medical Service Association and Hono­lulu Emergency Medical Services have been invited to comment.

In the House on Friday, Yamane introduced a proposal that would authorize the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. to enter into negotiations to bring the HMC-East Liliha campus under its governance "through formal affiliation or acquisition" and operate it as a long-term care facility.

"It came from discussions with HHSC that we’ve been having over the last couple of weeks regarding an opportunity that may present itself for the Department of Health to expand its current long-term care facilities," Yamane said. "With this measure, now we would be able to immediately impact, in a positive way, the need for long-term care beds as well as a specialized nursing facility."

The bill has no money in it that would go toward assimilating the hospital. Whether the state would need to put up any money, and how much, depends on the type of agreement that is worked out to assimilate the hospital under HHSC, Yamane said.

"We wanted to have a measure in place so that we can be proactive and ready so that if they do make an agreement within the next couple months, we can move forward," he said.

It would help to get the long-term care facility open as soon as possible, Yamane said.