News

We have now passed the cutoff for most bills to make it out of committees in the opposite chamber, and we are heading into the final stretch of this year’s legislative session. We are happy to report that significant bills WSHA supports have made it through these deadlines and will now go to the floor for final action. ... Read More >>

It gives us great pleasure to congratulate the Community-Based Long-Term Care Network on being named the 2018 rural health champion of sustainability by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)! The announcement was made Feb. 28 in Bethesda, MD, and the local program — comprised of 10 rural public hospital districts across Washington State — is one of seven national champions named by HRSA.... Read More >>

A recent expansion at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way made substantial improvements to cardiac care for patients. In January, the hospital celebrated the completion of its project, which converted existing space into an expanded suite for patients receiving emergency and outpatient cardiac and interventional radiology care.... Read More >>

Clallam County Public Health Officer Dr. Chris Frank recently authored a column on KevinMD.com on how value-based payments could potentially exacerbate health disparities. Value-based payments reward favorable health outcomes, but often health outcomes are tied to social factors, and Dr. Frank writes that this could make it a disincentive to care for sicker, less wealthy people. ... Read More >>

Thirty-five state and regional hospital associations — including WSHA — on Feb. 22 urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse a district court decision and grant a preliminary injunction to stop a nearly 30 percent Medicare payment reduction for many hospitals in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. ... Read More >>

Harborview Medical Center was highlighted in a NPR article for its work on the early recognition of sepsis using automated alerts. Dr. David Carlbom, a critical care pulmonologist, and the medical director of the sepsis program at the Harborview Medical Center, led the charge to develop a system that pulls information from the electronic health record to flag that a patient may have sepsis. ... Read More >>

The Health Care Authority (HCA) announced a new contract to provide enhanced services to the nearly 200,000 public employees enrolled in the Uniform Medical Plan (UMP). ... Read More >>

Recent member news from the March 1, 2018 Weekly Report.... Read More >>

The House and Senate released their respective budgets last week. Both budgets include significant funding for K-12 education, as well as some funding for behavioral health. ... Read More >>

The Health Care Authority recently notified many hospitals of payment rate increases for inpatient psychiatric services authorized by the legislature in the 2017 legislative session budget.... Read More >>