This week, House Republican leadership released legislation to repeal and replace major provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), fundamentally changing how insurance is funded through Medicaid and the insurance exchanges. WSHA has released a draft analysis of the proposed legislation, which is known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA).... Read More >>

As noted in July, the Department of Health (DOH) is proceeding with rulemaking for elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) Certificate of Need regulations. As a result of rulemaking petitions, DOH is considering reducing institutional and individual volume standards for safe and effective elective PCI. ... Read More >>

On Monday, House Republican leadership released legislation to repeal and replace major provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).... Read More >>

On February 22, WSHA hosted a webinar providing an overview of the NOTICE Act requirements and the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notification (MOON) form. The Act requires hospitals, including critical access hospitals, to notify Medicare patients who have been placed in observation status. ... Read More >>

WSHA recently produced and sent a series of hospital-specific analyses to the chief financial officer or other designated finance persons at each of our member hospitals.... Read More >>

On Monday, House Republican leadership released legislation to repeal and replace major provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The major provisions of the legislation follow an earlier version of the Republican leadership plan leaked in February. WSHA has a draft analysis of the impact to Washington State. The proposed legislation fundamentally changes how insurance is funded through Medicaid and the insurance exchanges.... Read More >>

The governor's budget plan, which lays out state funding of Medicaid services, proposes to cut payments to hospital-based clinics by an estimated $150 million over two years when federal matching funds are included. This cut threatens an important source of services that are not readily available to Medicaid patients elsewhere, potentially leaving these vulnerable populations without meaningful access to community-based primary and specialty care.... Read More >>

Navos CEO David Johnson testified in Washington, D.C., in front of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee about the ways the Affordable Care Act has benefitted those with behavioral health needs in our state, and about the potential damage of scaling back the Medicaid expansion and policies of the ACA.... Read More >>

Friday, February 24 was the cutoff for the bills to be voted out of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways & Means committees. All the bills that are still alive now move to their full house of origin for consideration and possible amendment, and the deadline for bills to pass through their house of origin is Wednesday, March 8.... Read More >>

The recent Washington State Supreme Court ruling in Volk v DeMeerleer abandoned the longtime standard for when a provider has a duty to warn potential victims and law enforcement of a dangerous patient's inclination to cause harm. The previous standard required a warning be made when there was an actual threat of physical violence against an identifiable victim or victims. ... Read More >>