In the 2019 session, WSHA worked hard to ensure the state legislature enacted a bill on surprise billing (HB 1065) that made sense for patients and hospitals. Now that HB 1065 is law, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner is entering into rulemaking related to HB 1065, the Balance Billing Protection Act. The OIC recently hosted a stakeholder meeting to identify areas of the law that require greater detail or clarification through rules. WSHA will monitor the rulemaking process to ensure rules are reasonable and do not significantly alter provisions of the bill that were specifically negotiated between facilities, providers, and carriers. The OIC is accepting comments to be considered for the stakeholder draft through July 19. OIC indicated at this point it plans to issue the stakeholder draft in early August with a two-week comment period, followed by the formal CR-102 notice early October with standard comment period and hearing.
WSHA provided a Bulletin and Webinar regarding the new law. Links to the Bulletin and Webinar, as well as resources for other laws passed during the 2019 session can be found on our 2019 New Law Implementation Guide page. (Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org).
