Gov. Jay Inslee today signed House Bill 1427 to enact several recommendations made by the King County Heroin and Opioid Task Force. The bill will help cities and counties across the state confront the epidemic by lowering barriers to treatment and reducing wait lists for treatment. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Eileen Cody, will give health care providers more information about their prescribing practices to boost the use of best practices.... Read More >>

Washington State has a unique opportunity to accelerate integration of behavioral health into primary care practices. The state has been awarded a Medicaid demonstration project to transform clinical care with up front resources available to providers to build capacity and change clinical work flows. This webinar focused on the two options for evidence-based integrated behavioral health that are outlined in Project 2A of the Medicaid Transformation Toolkit.... Read More >>

This week not only marks National Hospital Week, but it also marks National Nurses Week! We use this time each year as an opportunity to say thank you to all the dedicated nurses across our state, because they are central to our health care system. They work tremendously hard to care for us and our families, and help keep us healthy.... Read More >>

Ten years ago, EvergreenHealth built the eight-story Silver Tower on its Kirkland campus, opening the building with five completed floors and three shells ready to be used at a later date, in anticipation of increasing growth and community need. Now, the health system has taken advantage of much of the space it set aside, opening a Cardiovascular & Neurosurgical Care Unit in April.... Read More >>

WSHA will host a webcast from 12-1 p.m. May 23 detailing the latest legislative action taking place at the federal and state level, as the American Health Care Act is on its way to the Senate in Washington, D.C., and the cycle of special sessions has begun in Olympia. ... Read More >>

Registration is open for WSHA and AWPHD’s Rural Hospital Leadership Conference at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan June 25-28. Be sure to register soon, because prices will go up on June 1!... Read More >>

A new lookup tool is available that will allow you check if a clinician who bills to Medicare will need to submit quality data to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). You can do so by entering a provider’s National Provider Identifier (NPI) on the Quality Payment Program website. Clinicians who bill Medicare more than $30,000 in Part B allowed charges a year and provide care for more than 100 Medicare patients a year are included in the Quality Payment Program.... Read More >>

Americans between the ages of 45 and 64 accounted for about 44 percent of overdose deaths in 2013 and 2014, and the number of adults older than 50 seeking treatment for opioid addiction has increased dramatically, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One key strategy to counter this is to empower patients to manage pain with alternatives to opioids whenever possible, such as by controlling daytime pain after surgery with non-opioid medication, or only using opioids at night or not at all.... Read More >>

As part of National Hospital Week, WSHA wants to extend our gratitude to the men and women who work in our state’s hospitals and health systems. We also want to share this great video from the American Hospital Association paying tribute to health care workers.... Read More >>

Craig Cudworth has been appointed Interim CEO of Trios Health. Also, Dr. David O’Brien has been appointed MultiCare Chief Executive for Eastern Washington. Dr. O’Brien will be based in Spokane and begin work at MultiCare on June 19. Congratulations Craig and Dr. O’Brien!... Read More >>