News

On April 28 the Health Care Authority hosted a webinar on its Medicaid program on potentially preventable readmissions. Under this program, effective January 1, 2016, the state applies a prospective... Read More >>

WSHA is working with the Health Care Authority (HCA) to address an issue causing a possible under-reporting of Medicaid days used on hospital Medicare cost reports. An under-reporting of days can result in loss of Medicare disproportional share hospital (DSH) payments.... Read More >>

The Hospital Safety Net Assessment Program for SFY 2017, which begins July 1, 2016, is expected to be stable and relatively unchanged compared to 2016. WSHA is working closely with Health Care Authority staff to ensure the program continues to work as designed to provide budget savings to the state and funding for Medicaid hospital services.... Read More >>

Two weeks ago, WSHA staff held a webinar and sent information to hospital CFOs asking each hospital in Washington to adopt a new, standardized and simplified financial assistance application and communication process. This standardized application was developed at the request of the WSHA Board by a workgroup of WSHA member hospital patient account managers. ... Read More >>

Nurses put a tremendous amount of themselves into their jobs, making sacrifices and putting in hard and sometimes tiring work to care for their patients. To Arnese Stern, the director of nursing services at North Valley Hospital in Tonasket, nurses play a particularly special role in health care, as they care for patients throughout the full spectrum of life, caring for babies just after birth and holding the hands of patients at the end of life.... Read More >>

As Washington State plans a new system to transform care, one of the items that keeps surfacing is the role that supportive housing can play in helping reduce health care costs and especially emergency room use. The state has started to recognize this in some of the projects under discussion in its new Healthier Washington initiative.... Read More >>

During the 2016 state legislative session, a key issue of debate was the future of Washington’s state-run psychiatric hospitals. The result was SB 6656, and WSHA was pleased with the direction it established for moving forward. However, last week, Governor Inslee vetoed significant and important portions of the bill.... Read More >>

Patients struggle to maintain insurance and pay for care, and hospitals can end up with bad debt and unanticipated charity care. Project Access Northwest’s Premium Assistance Program — which WSHA helped launch — can help these individuals pay their premiums and keep important health care coverage for the entire year.... Read More >>

As members and friends of WSHA know, this organization has a long and deep commitment to improving mental health care in Washington. Improving access to mental health services was our top priority this year, and the legislature made important improvements. ... Read More >>

Washington Hospital Services Industry Partner Commerce Bank will host an educational webcast from 12-1pm May 18 about how hospitals have been able to create an efficient and profitable accounts payable department. ... Read More >>