WSHA sent a bulletin to members Sept. 23 on Senate Bill 5195, which is a new law requiring hospital emergency departments and many behavioral health settings – such as inpatient psychiatric units and psychiatric hospitals – to dispense or distribute opioid overdose reversal medication to patients at risk of an opioid overdose for individual use after discharge. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2022.
WSHA provided significant input on this law during the 2021 state legislative session. Thanks to WSHA’s advocacy, the law now includes a process for hospitals to bill and be reimbursed for providing opioid overdose reversal medication. Read the bulletin. (Brooke Evans)