_______________________________________________

                                ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 5887

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Human Services & Corrections (originally sponsored by  Senators Wojahn, Kiskaddon, Moore, Patterson and Barr)

Read first time 3/5/87.

AN ACT Relating to hospital health care services; adding a new section to chapter 70.39 RCW; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds and declares that in the best interest of the consumer public, because of the regulation inherent in prospective payment under the federal medicare program, in the prospective payment limitations under the state medical assistance programs, and in the budgetary restraints upon public funding of health care, and because of the disproportionate administrative expense of budget review and rate approval for small hospitals, there no longer is need for commission regulation of the rates of rural hospitals; and that such hospitals should therefore be exempted from rate approval by the hospital commission.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 70.39 RCW to read as follows:

          Effective for hospital fiscal years beginning after June 30, 1987, there shall be a two-year moratorium upon rate regulation of rural hospitals by the hospital commission.  During this period, each rural hospital may establish and modify its rates at its discretion:  PROVIDED, That rural hospitals shall continue to file their budget, patient discharge, and other data as required by the hospital commission of hospitals which continue to be subject to rate approval under this chapter:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That nothing in this section limits the ability of the department of social and health services to establish hospital payment rates pursuant to RCW 74.09.120 or in accordance with a federally approvable state plan under Title XIX of the federal social security act.

          For the purposes of this section, "rural hospital" means a hospital located anywhere in the state except the following areas:

          (1) The entire counties of Snohomish (including Camano Island), King, Kitsap, Pierce, Thurston, Clark, and Spokane; and

          (2) Areas within a twenty mile radius of an urban area with a population exceeding thirty thousand persons.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.