About six months ago, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) changed the method of collecting hospital payments for charity care assessments. For many years WSHA paid the assessments on behalf of hospitals. This process changed in the summer of 2017 and now DOH bills and collects the assessment payment from hospitals directly.
Under RCW 70.170, hospitals pay an annual assessment payment to the DOH to fund the department’s cost of data collection and reporting of statewide hospital charity care. Assessment amounts are calculated based on the hospital’s reported gross operating expenses. This year’s assessment rate is 0.0007 percent of total operating expenses. Please see our previous communication. (Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org).
