Activity Updates
1. 2022 Legislative Session: The schedule for this short session is extremely tight and there are just a little less than two weeks left to go. We are regularly checking the calendars for both houses of the legislature because they are changing rapidly.
These are actions you could take if you or your organization supports these bills.
Activities
This Week’s Activities
1. 2022 Legislative Session: Actions and Update
Several bills that promote accessible, comprehensive, and affordable healthcare for all.
a. HB 1616 – Concerning the charity care act.
Current Status: Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means on February 26, 2022 at 9:00 AM (Subject to change). (Committee Materials)
Scheduled for executive session in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means on February 28, 2022 at 10:00 AM (Subject to change). (Committee Materials)
Action: You can send an email or make a call today (2-27-22) to Senator Christine Rolfes (christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov or (360) (360) 786-7644), the Chair of the Ways & Means Committee to keep this bill alive. Let her know that you support this bill and want to see it passed in the Senate. Here is a link to contact information for all members of this committee. If your Senator is on the list, please reach out to them as well.
b. HB 1651 – Allowing providers to bill separately for immediate postpartum contraception.
Current Status: Passed to Rules Committee for second reading on February 21, 2022.
Action: You can send an email or make a call today to the Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, Lieutenant Governor, Denny Heck (Denny.Heck@leg.wa.gov) and also your State Senator (contact information available here) to let them know that you support this bill.
c. HB 1688 – Protecting consumers from charges for out-of-network health care services, by aligning state law and the federal no surprises act and addressing coverage of treatment for emergency conditions.
Current Status:Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care on February 23, 2022 at 8:00 AM. (Committee Materials)
HLTC – Majority; do pass. (Majority Report)
Minority; do not pass. (Minority Report)
Minority; without recommendation. (Minority Report)
Referred to Ways & Means on February 24, 2022 and scheduled for an Executive Session on Feb 28 at 10am.
Action: You can send an email or make a call today (2-27-22) to Senator Christine Rolfes (christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov or (360) (360) 786-7644), the Chair of the Ways & Means Committee to keep this bill alive. Here is a link to contact information for all members of this committee. If your Senator is on the list, you can reach out to them as well.
d. HB 1851 – Preserving a pregnant individual’s ability to access abortion care.
This bill puts it in state law that providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants will always be able to provide abortion care. It is a necessary step if Washington is going to be doing its part in the fight for abortion access,
Current Status: Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care on February 23, 2022 at 8:00 AM. (Committee Materials)
HLTC – Majority; do pass with amendment(s). (Majority Report)
Minority; without recommendation. (Minority Report)
Passed to Rules Committee for second reading on February 24, 2022.
Placed on second reading by Rules Committee on February 25, 2022.
Action: You can send an email or make a call today to the Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, Lieutenant Governor, Denny Heck (Denny.Heck@leg.wa.gov) and also your State Senator (contact information available here) to let them know that you support this bill and you want it put on the agenda for a floor vote.
e. HB 1868 – Improving worker safety and patient care in health care facilities by addressing staffing needs, overtime, meal and rest breaks, and enforcement.
Current Status: Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce & Tribal Affairs on February 24, 2022 at 8:30 AM. (Committee Materials) and is scheduled for an Executive Session on Feb 28th at 10am.
LCTA – Majority; do pass with amendment(s). (Majority Report)
Minority; do not pass. (Minority Report)
2. Engrossed Substitute – ESHB 1141: Increasing access to the Death with Dignity act.
A message from End of Life WA regarding ESHB 1141, Increasing access to the Death with Dignity act.—ESHB 1141 would have amended the Death with Dignity Act to allow Advanced Practice Registered Nurses or Physician Assistants to act as either the attending or consulting medical provider for individuals who wanted to access the law, reduced the waiting period between requests for the prescription from 15 days to 72 hours, and allowed the attending provider to waive the waiting period if the terminally ill individual’s death is imminent. The bill would have also modernized the rules around how and when individuals can obtain their aid in dying prescription from a pharmacy by allowing electronic prescribing and home delivery.
Action: This bill was allowed to die in committee last week.
3.End-of-Life and Reproductive Health Care Services/ What’s Available in Kitsap County? Wednesday, March 16, 11:30am – 1:00pm, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Kitsap Health Care Committee. Attend this panel discussion about access to End-of-Life and Reproductive Health Care Services in Kitsap County, moderated by Dr. Gib Morrow, Kitsap Public Health District health officer. The panelists will be Karen Griffith, Volunteer Client Advisor for End of Life Washington; Alexa Brenner, Regional Field Organizer in the South Sound and Olympic Peninsula for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates; Dr. Leslie Waldman, Assistant Program Director for the Northwest Family Medicine Residency of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health; Dr. Regina Bonnievie Rogers, Medical Director for Peninsula Community Health Services.
The webinar is free to the public, but advance registration is required. To register, go to
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SN8R_zjiRfG1fOo1sZ2jRA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
4. Recommended articles: The following links lead to articles of interest:
a. A Healthcare Researcher Weighs in on the Nurse-To-Patient Ratio Debate: Washington state lawmakers are considering a new law that would set nurse-to-patient ratios at hospitals. A group of healthcare unions called Washington Safe + Healthy is pushing hard for the proposal. They say even before Covid, nurses had way too many patients, which was leading to burnout and poor outcomes for patients.
The primary mechanism here is what’s called “missed care,” where nurses are covering say six different patients, as opposed to four, and two patients are having a crisis at the same time. They may not be able to attend to that patient in a timely fashion, so care is missed. That may begin an infection, that may be actually sepsis when a patient is dying, and the nurse doesn’t get there in time to be able to rescue the patient. (2/9/22)
Note: Understaffing is a common consequence of healthcare system mergers. Regardless of the fate of HB 1868, this is a critical concern that must be addressed.
b. AG Ferguson files lawsuit against Swedish, other Providence-affiliated hospitals, for failing to make charity care accessible to thousands of Washingtonians: Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today a consumer protection lawsuit against five Swedish hospitals and nine Providence-affiliated facilities for failing to ensure that eligible low-income Washingtonians receive the discounts to which they are legally entitled, and aggressively collecting money from charity care eligible low-income Washingtonians. (2-24-22)
c. Stalled Bill Would Have Protected Reproductive Health When Hospitals Merge: When hospital systems merge, it can result in patients losing access to critical medical treatments, including reproductive health care and medical aid in dying. But a new bill introduced in this year’s legislative session offers a potential solution: a system of strengthened oversight and transparency that would require hospitals to spell out policies on these types of care before a merger is even approved. (2-21-22)
d.The Sunday Observer: The Legislature’s cutoff chaos, explained: What really happened last week in the Washington Legislature before a whole slate of bills that a great many people cared about died at a procedural deadline? (2-20-22)
