News

In an effort to continue to promote the very best care and safety to patients in Washington, WSHA launched Maternity Watch in fall 2017. This is a new program designed to optimize early recognition and response to maternal warning signs for severe hypertension/preeclampsia, maternal hemorrhage, sepsis and cardiopulmonary events to reduce severe maternal morbidity and mortality.... Read More >>

The Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule released last week by CMS includes provisions that would dramatically reduce Medicare payments for most off-campus hospital clinic services.... Read More >>

WSHA recently sent to CEOs, CFOs, and Government Affairs staff of member hospitals summaries of assessments and payments under the Hospital Safety Net Assessment program for state fiscal year 2018, and projections of assessments and estimated payments for state fiscal year 2019.... Read More >>

New resources are available to help vulnerable patients obtain and maintain stable housing and employment. ... Read More >>

The Health Care Authority recently updated its Substance Abuse Disorder (SUD) Billing Guide to conform with federal requirements. ... Read More >>

To give those in the Vancouver community a place of refuge during a difficult time, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center early this year opened the new Douglas and Heather Greene Legacy Breast Health Center, which combines the medical center’s existing breast health services and expands the services offered.... Read More >>

The Medical Quality Assurance Commission (MQAC) is seeking comments on its newly released proposed rule on opioid prescribing, as required by House Bill 1427. The current proposal is drastically improved from previous iterations, but WSHA and the Washington State Medical Association’s Opioid Taskforce are still concerned about the volume of administrative burden and liabilities the rules place on providers and hospitals.... Read More >>

Completing one of the four-hour in-person courses and a four-hour online follow-up course allows physicians to prescribe buprenorphine for office-based treatment of opioid use disorder.... Read More >>

In addition to offering peer review services to rural hospitals, Washington Hospital Services’ Health Care Quality Services (WHS-HQS) also provides peer review to rural health clinics, whether hospital-based or free standing.... Read More >>

A new article in British Medical Journal Quality & Safety reviews five areas of health care that are essential to improving patient safety, which the Institute For Healthcare Improvement/National Patient Safety Foundation (IHI/NPSF) and the Lucian Leape Institute (LLI) first identified in 2009.... Read More >>