BILL REQ. #: S-3507.3
| State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2014 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/14. Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.
AN ACT Relating to restoring funding to in-home care services; adding a new section to chapter 74.09 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that in 2011 medicaid
home care hours were reduced for forty-five thousand individuals by an
average hour reduction of ten percent. This reduction has resulted in
hardship for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities which has
resulted in a decrease in the quality of life for patients across the
state. Recognizing the great hardship on Washington residents from the
reduction in these services, it is the intent of the legislature to
restore partial funding for these reduced hours.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 74.09 RCW
to read as follows:
Decisions as to the hours of in-home care to be provided must be
based solely upon an objective assessment of medical need, as follows:
The department must provide eligible individuals with the hours of in-home care designated as the "base hours" for their in-home group, as
set forth in WAC 388-106-0125, as it existed on December 1, 2010,
unless the individual is eligible for a modification in hours pursuant
to the objective standards set forth in WAC 388-106-0130 (2) through
(6), as those subsections existed on December 1, 2010. The department
may consider no other factors.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 This act takes effect July 1, 2014.