EMERGENCY RULES
SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES
(Medicaid Purchasing Administration)
Effective Date of Rule: January 1, 2011.
Purpose: Upon order of the governor, the medicaid purchasing administration (MPA) must reduce its budget expenditures for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, by 6.3%. To achieve this expenditure reduction, MPA is eliminating a number [of] optional medical services from program benefits packages for clients twenty-one years of age and older. These medical services include vision, hearing, and dental care. Sections in chapter 388-501 WAC are being amended to reflect and support these program cuts.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-501-0050, 388-501-0060, 388-501-0065, 388-501-0070, and 388-502-0160.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.08.090.
Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest; that state or federal law or federal rule or a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds requires immediate adoption of a rule; and that in order to implement the requirements or reductions in appropriations enacted in any budget for fiscal years 2009, 2010, or 2011, which necessitates the need for the immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the fiscal needs or requirements of the agency.
Reasons for this Finding: Governor Gregoire issued Executive Order 10-04 on September 13, 2010, under the authority of RCW 43.88.110(7). In the executive order, the governor required DSHS and all other state agencies to reduce their expenditures in state fiscal year 2011 by approximately 6.3%. As a consequence of the executive order, funding will no longer be available as of January 1, 2011, for the benefits that are being eliminated as part of these regulatory amendments. Delaying the adoption of these cuts to optional services could jeopardize the state's ability to maintain the mandatory medicaid services for the majority of DSHS clients.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 5, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 5, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: December 23, 2010.
Katherine I. Vasquez
Rules Coordinator
Reviser's note: The material contained in this filing exceeded the page-count limitations of WAC 1-21-040 for appearance in this issue of the Register. It will appear in the 11-03 issue of the Register.