The Department of Health (DOH) is seeking feedback from hospitals on its rulemaking on the Behavioral Health Agency (BHA) regulations, under Chapter 246-341 WAC, which governs the licensing and certification of inpatient mental health services. Feedback is requested in two parts.
First, DOH is working on implementing HB 1394, which requires, among other things, identifying the BHA rules that may require changes in order to facilitate community hospitals providing 90- and 180-day civil commitment services. The pre-proposal (CR101) is available online. Stakeholder meetings have been set for Aug. 12, 19 and 26. Meeting details, including call-in information, are available on DOH’s BHA rulemaking website. WSHA is working closely with DOH and other stakeholders in the HB 1394 workgroup and we invite members to participate. Please contact Jaclyn Greenberg, Policy Director, Legal Affairs, at jaclyng@wsha.org for more information.
Second, DOH is also seeking feedback about the BHA rules through the Behavioral Health Agencies Licensing and Certification Rules Survey. The survey is in preparation for its major rules re-write project on the BHA rules, which will follow the HB 1394 rulemaking. With the survey, DOH is seeking feedback on the individual sections under Chapter 246-341 WAC to inform how they intend to organize that comprehensive project. The survey is open now until Aug. 23. We encourage members to participate in the survey. Please also share your feedback with Jaclyn Greenberg.
