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 >>

The U.S. Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) announced last week that a group of Washington’s frontier hospitals received a one-year grant for nearly $100,000 to develop a community-based, long-term care network. AWPHD and WSHA led the effort to pull the network together and pursue the grant.... Read More >>

Recent member news from the July 20, 2017 Weekly Report.... Read More >>

You asked for it, we’re adding it. LEAD Academy will launch a second Seattle session starting in September. LEAD Academy is an intensive six-day, 12-module tool-based training using experiential learning to empower recently hired, newly appointed or previously untrained health care leaders to better understand and use their strengths. ... Read More >>

I’m an organ donor, and while nobody wants to think about passing away and leaving their family behind, I know that as a donor my organs can save or improve the lives of many people. I have personal experience of this. My best friend’s daughter, born the same month as my eldest son, needed a liver transplant due to a genetic issue.... Read More >>

To provide more care closer to home, Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake is working to become a Level 3 trauma center. The facility is currently a Level 4 trauma center, and to receive more advanced care at a Level 3 trauma center, patients currently need to travel more than 65 miles to either Wenatchee, the Tri-Cities or Spokane.... Read More >>

A study published in Health Affairs in June 2017 compared racial disparities in 30-day readmissions among traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who underwent one of six major inpatient surgical procedures. The study utilized New York State hospital claims data in 2013.... Read More >>