The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Connect2Health Task Force will convene virtual listening sessions beginning next month to get input on broadband health issues, including on the rural/urban gap and other digital divide issues, from stakeholders outside Washington, D.C.... Read More >>
Membership updates from the July 27, 2017 Weekly Report.... Read More >>
Recent member news from the July 27, 2017 Weekly Report.... Read More >>
Communication and Resolution Programs (CRPs) are a principled, comprehensive and systematic approach for responding to patients who have been harmed during health care. Despite the best training and intentions of healthcare professionals, about one in 10 patients is harmed by the care they receive. When something goes wrong during health care, the best response is one that is rapid and compassionate, and promotes healing for all involved.... Read More >>
WSHA, with help from our partner organizations, has created a template to help providers and Accountable Communities of Health (ACHs) consider critical elements needed for behavioral health integration as they work to submit applications and plan for implementation of the Medicaid demonstration behavioral health integration project.... Read More >>
Monday’s action does not mean the end of the health care debate in Congress. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to try to pass a bill that first passed in 2015 and was vetoed by President Obama that would simply repeal the ACA, effective in two years. Congress would use the intervening two years to develop a replacement. However, that effort also appears to be doomed, as three Republican Senators on Tuesday announced they would vote against such a measure.... Read More >>
UW Medicine, the UW School of Pharmacy and the Kidney Research Institute have partnered with the Seattle-based organ-on-a-chip company Nortis to develop the “kidney-on-a-chip,” which will be used in a research study on the International Space Station. A total of 24 chips will be sent into space, possibly as soon as next year.... Read More >>
Join us for a webinar at 1 p.m. July 27 to learn more about Washington State’s new law to address the opioid crisis through enhancements in the state prescription drug monitoring program. Experts from the Department of Health, WSMA and WSHA will provide an overview of the new law, discuss how new prescribing and overdose data will be available for providers, and address how hospitals, health systems and independent practices should be thinking about implementation of this new law and next steps in addressing the opioid crisis.... Read More >>
Nominations are now open for WSHA’s Joe Hopkins Memorial Award and the Community Health Leadership Award, which will be presented at WSHA’s 85thAnnual Member Meeting Oct. 12 in Seattle.... Read More >>
This legislative session, the state legislature passed HB 2202, which was proposed by AWPHD and provided clarity on which emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were eligible to participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighter’s (LEOFF) retirement program, which is a more robust and expensive alternative to regular retirement programs. With the passage of the bill, only EMTs at hospital districts who are full-time employees and are rendering care at the scene of an emergency or transporting patients in an ambulance will be eligible for LEOFF. The bill resulted in a savings of more than $8 million for hospital districts.... Read More >>
