News

SEATTLE — Wishes honored. Peace of mind.  Family harmony.  Quality care.  These are the hallmarks of a new initiative launched this week.  Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest’s vision is for everyone... Read More >>

Priorities also include supporting telemedicine services, cost and quality transparency, flexibility for meeting demands of Affordable Care Act, and continuation of hospital safety net assessment program   Seattle (January 6,... Read More >>

The holidays, sadly behind us, marked the end of a long and busy year. We at WSHA are cranking back into gear after two slow holiday weeks and are looking... Read More >>

Exchange Open Enrollment Continues Through February 15, 2015 The Exchange is currently enrolling people for subsidized commercial insurance through February 15, 2015, through the Washington Healthplanfinder. Enrollment in Apple Health (Medicaid) is... Read More >>

Hospitals and health care workers sometimes experience the holidays a little differently than everyone else does. They don’t close their doors, of course, which means there are lots of people... Read More >>

The Big Budget Picture Today, Governor Jay Inslee released his proposed budget for the 2015-2017 biennium. Despite increasing stability in the overall economy and modestly increased state revenues, the state’s... Read More >>

2014 was a year of significant changes for hospitals and healthcare, impacting both health care coverage and payment issues. Here are a few of the significant events that occurred this year.... Read More >>

On December 26, 2014, the stay of the Supreme Court’s decision eliminated the use of single bed certifications to board psychiatric patients expired and the decision went into effect. The court’s decision was welcomed by hospitals, but the practical implementation has meant hospitals can be in a difficult position when caring for patients who meet detention criteria under the Involuntary Treatment Act.... Read More >>

The purpose of this bulletin is to: 1) Inform hospitals that the Washington State Supreme Court’s decision, In re the Detention of DW; 2) Inform hospitals about the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’ (DSHS) new emergency rule for Single Bed Certification; 3) Provide information to help hospitals manage in circumstances where a designated mental health professional finds a patient meets detention criteria under the Involuntary Treatment Act, but declines to detain a patient due to no available appropriate inpatient psychiatric bed. ... Read More >>

This bulletin provides important information on problems hospitals are experiencing with the Health Care Authority’s (HCA) programming of payments using Enhanced Ambulatory Payment Groups (EAPGs).The issues, stemming from pricing in HCA’s ProviderOne system, are causing significant numbers of outpatient hospital Medicaid claims to be underpaid or not paid at all. ... Read More >>