News

Gov. Jay Inslee has proclaimed April 16, 2021 as Healthcare Decisions Day in Washington – a day to recognize the importance of advance care planning and encourage individuals to discuss and record choices about future health care decisions. Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest (HCPNW) is part of this national effort to highlight National Healthcare Decisions Day.... Read More >>

The legislature just cleared one of its last major deadlines – the final policy cutoff. In case you missed our Inside Olympia, we have highlighted WSHA’s top priority bills that have passed both chambers in our most recent edition. The legislature is set to adjourn on Sunday, April 25 and we expect the final budget... Read More >>

The Health Care Authority (HCA) announced it will allow hospitals and providers administering COVID-19 vaccines to Medicaid patients to bill HCA or enrollee’s managed care organization for the administration of the vaccine using what is commonly known as a roster, or alternatively as batch, or template billing process. The process will be available May 1... Read More >>

The Washington State legislature is considering, and expected to pass legislation that would extend the expiration date for the state’s Hospital Safety Net Assessment program an additional two years from its existing expiration date of June 30, 2023 to June 30, 2025. This is to meet the state budget’s four-year outlook requirements. WSHA supports the... Read More >>

To prepare hospitals that receive Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) funding for the audit of SFY 2018 DSH payments, the state’s consultant, Myers and Stauffer (M&S) provided a provider training webcast on April 6. M&S is contracted by the Health Care Authority to perform the federally required annual DSH audits for Washington state and performs... Read More >>

Sunday, April 11, marked the final cutoff before the end of the 2021 legislative session, when all bills were required to pass through the opposite chamber... Read More >>

WSHA was recently notified by member hospitals that United Health Group terminated its participating agreements with two major radiology groups, Radia Imaging and Inland Imaging. Combined, these two groups provide radiology and radiology interpretation services for more than a third of the state’s hospitals in the state, including many small rural hospitals.  This situation will... Read More >>

Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest is celebrating National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16 with a collection of joyous live events, motivating inspiration, and a reflective challenge to encourage people to do advance care planning.... Read More >>

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has filed its comments on the proposed new HIPAA privacy rule by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) amending the federal regulation governing health care data privacy and security is significant.... Read More >>

The Washington State Department of Commerce will be hosting a live question and answer (Q&A) session on the Clean Buildings Performance Standard and the Early Adopter Incentive Program on Zoom from 12-1 p.m., Tuesday, April 13.... Read More >>