News

All health care providers know the challenge of health-care-acquired infections (HAIs), especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the HAI improvements from before the pandemic were lost because of it... Read More >>

The Board’s Role in Credentialing & Privileging has been rescheduled for 12 – 1 p.m. Monday, August 22. This governance education webinar will be presented by WSHA’s Executive Vice President Taya Briley and Senior Vice President of Safety & Quality Darcy Jaffe... Read More >>

ome Washington Hospital Services (WHS) clients are reporting that Washington State Department of Health (DOH) 2022 surveys are happening earlier than anticipated. These surveys are inclusive of the COVID-19 Vaccination Compliance mandate, which went into effect in November 2021... Read More >>

Washington Hospital Services’ Virtual LEAD Academy offers a comprehensive and engaging modular training that focuses on building and strengthening key leadership competencies... Read More >>

Therapeutic inventory reporting in the Health Partner Ordering Portal (HPOP) is now required on Mondays and Thursdays by 11:59 p.m. The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) shared instructions to assist providers in updating administered and available treatment courses... Read More >>

Recent member news from the June 23, 2022 Weekly Report.... Read More >>

Purpose The purpose of this bulletin is to inform hospitals about two changes impacting audio-only telemedicine reimbursement that were enacted into law during the 2022 legislative session. Effective June 9, 2022, hospitals licensed under chapter 70.41 RCW that serve as either an originating or distant site for audio-only telemedicine are prohibited from charging a facility... Read More >>

On June 15, Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) posted the Medicaid inpatient and outpatient hospital payment rates effective for July 1, 2022. The changes to rates, grouper versions, and weights are the result of HCA’s rebasing of its prospective payment methodologies conducted over the last year and a half. HCA and Milliman, its consultant,... Read More >>

On June 17, WSHA submitted comments  to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed inpatient hospital payment rule for 2023. WSHA provided a draft of its comments to hospital chief financial officers, government affairs staff, and rural administrators in advance of the June 17 comment deadline and encouraged interested hospitals to... Read More >>

On June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not follow the necessary procedure for cuts to hospital payment for 340B hospitals. In American Hospital Association v. Becerra the AHA sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) arguing the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization... Read More >>