The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) is continuing its rulemaking related to implementation of changes due to E2SHB 1688. The 2022 law modifies the state’s Balance Billing Protection Act (BBPA) to include emergency and crisis behavioral health services and aligned provisions of the BBPA with the federal No Surprises Act.
WSHA plans to comment on the definition of “Hospital outpatient department” in the proposed rule. We believe as written, it could inadvertently be applied to clinic sites that are not hospital departments.
Comments on the prepublication draft rule are due August 12. The underlined and stricken sections reflect the changes to the existing rule. Many of the changes are to accommodate the addition of crisis and emergency behavior health services and to better align the BBPA and NSA dispute resolution processes, which will remain separate processes in the near term. WSHA members with concerns or comments regarding the draft rule should contact Andrew Busz at AndrewB@wsha.org before August 12.
OIC will host a Zoom meeting for interested parties regarding the prepublication draft rule on Monday, August 8 at 1:00 p.m. Interested parties should register in advance for the meeting here. (AndrewB@wsha.org)
