The Washington State Legislature is more than halfway through its 105-day session, and this week marked an important milestone – the cutoff for bills to pass out of their house of origin. WSHA has been hard at work representing the interests of our members across the state and supporting members in connecting with their lawmakers. These efforts paid off this week with two challenging bills failing to move forward.
Both SB 5393, which would have significantly advantaged commercial insurers in contract negotiations, and SB 5241, the bill significantly increasing barriers to hospital merger, acquisition, and contracting affiliations, failed to advance out of the Senate. We are very pleased with this outcome. We were very concerned the merger bill would have made it incredibly challenging for struggling hospitals to continue to deliver care in their communities. It would have also restricted partnerships to bring new services online, such as cancer treatments. While there is still a lot of work to do to advance our legislative priorities, it is worth taking a moment to recognize these successes. Thank you to everyone who reached out to their Senators to share the potential unintended consequences of these proposals.
Look for a full round-up of bills that advanced and those that did not in Monday’s issue of Inside Olympia.
Sincerely,
Chelene Whiteaker
