News

Friday was the cutoff for the bills to be voted out of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways & Means committees. All the bills that are still alive now move to their full house of origin for consideration and possible amendment, and the deadline for bills to pass through their house of origin is Wednesday, March 8. In other words, in order to be alive after March 8, a bill that started in the House committees must pass a floor vote of the House and vice versa in the Senate. ... Read More >>

HB 1337, the physician licensure compact bill, passed the House with a vote of 94 to 3. SB 5436 passed the Senate 49-0. The bill makes the definition of "home" more flexible in the state's telemedicine law. ... Read More >>

Suffering a serious, unexpected injury or illness is not something any of us wants to think about. How will they know what kind of treatment we would want? What would it mean for our loved ones? Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest is a project co-sponsored by WSHA and the Washington State Medical Association with a vision that everyone in the state should receive care that honors their personal values and goals near the end of life.... Read More >>

Any parent is likely to tell you that preparing to become a mother or father can be terrifying. There are many resources to help parents gain the skills they need to care for their new child. But a program known as “Boot Camp for New Dads” at Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital in Yakima offers a unique perspective, helping men get the skills they need to become fathers, as taught by fathers.... Read More >>

House Republican leaders released on February 17 a proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposal — the most detailed to date of how the ACA would be replaced — outlines broad policy changes but lacks enough detail to for us to fully understand how Washington State’s patients, hospitals and health systems will be affected. However, the significant reductions in federal Medicaid funds would have a major impact on our state and erode the coverage gains achieved under the ACA.... Read More >>

The Health Care Authority (HCA) published additional guidance for providers still working toward participating in the HCA’s Link4Health Clinical Data Repository (CDR). This guidance comes after the February 1 first implementation date for providers to share electronic health record (EHR) Medicaid patient data via the CDR.... Read More >>

The Washington Association of Community & Migrant Health Centers is sponsoring an apprenticeship program for medical assistants, with a special 50 percent scholarship match for hospital employers in King County that participate in the June cohort. The 12-month program trains medical assistants while they work full-time, helping hospitals and health systems reduce cost by increasing retention rates, and making workflow more efficient by freeing up nurses and providers to work at the top of their scope of work.... Read More >>

Friday was cutoff for bills to be voted out of their original policy committees in Olympia. To make it easy, we’ve listed all of the major bills we’ve been tracking.... Read More >>

Membership update from the February 23, 2017 Weekly Report.... Read More >>

Recent member news from the February 23, 2017 Weekly Report.... Read More >>