This bulletin is to inform acute care hospitals about House Bill 1148, which increases the Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH) oversight and enforcement abilities of acute care hospitals. This is the continuation of the legislature’s efforts to increase DOH oversight and enforcement abilities over health care facilities.... Read More >>

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform hospitals and health systems of new requirements in Senate Bill 5027 regarding activation of closed captioning settings on televisions located in public places of accommodation. The new requirements are effective July 25, 2021. Enforcement and potential penalties for noncompliance begin 90 days from the effective date.... Read More >>

This bulletin is to inform hospitals and health systems about Senate Bill 5377, which makes some key modifications to public option health plans (also known as “Cascade Care Select”). Specific to hospitals is section 5 – mandating hospital participation in at least one public option plan upon receiving an offer to contract from a public option health plan. This provision is effective if in 2022 or any subsequent year, there are any counties that a public option health plan is not available to consumers (bare counties).... Read More >>

In 2020 the Washington State Legislature passed legislation to modernize the state’s physician assistant (PA) laws.... Read More >>

WSHA is pleased that after a long vacancy, the Department of Health (DOH) has announced that Carrie Baranowski is now in the role of Charity Care Program Manager.... Read More >>

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one area of significant focus for state legislators during the 2021 legislative session was on legislation creating additional protections for workers.... Read More >>

During the 2021 state legislative session, policymakers passed a bill making adjustments to the scope of practice for respiratory care practitioners, which may be of interest to hospitals and health systems.... Read More >>

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released their proposed inpatient rule for 2022 on May 9 and will accept comments on the rule through June 28.  A summary of the rule and hospital-specific impact analyses were sent to the CFO or designated finance person for each member PPS Hospital in late May.... Read More >>

The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) and the State Department of Health (DOH) have begun work with stakeholders to assess what is needed to implement the federal No Surprises Act (NSA) passed by Congress in December. ... Read More >>

The Washington State Health Care Authority provided additional detail on health care investments and rate increases authorized by the legislature in the state’s 2021-2023 operating budget. The nature and timing of funding varies by initiative and certain details are yet to be determined, especially initiatives involving new federal funding. ... Read More >>