Subject of Possible Rule Making: Hospital fees. The department of health (department) is considering rule amendments to update fees for acute care hospitals, WAC 246-320-199, and private psychiatric hospitals, WAC 246-322-990. The department will also consider changes to clarify and standardize language.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The department is considering updates to rules regarding acute care and private psychiatric hospital fees to address funding needs. An update may be necessary to adequately fund the hospital inspection, investigation, and licensing programs to protect patients. RCW 43.70.250 requires that fees must cover regulatory program expenses which necessitates the program(s) to be self-funding and changes to rules are the only way to make fee adjustments.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Heather Cantrell, P.O. Box 47850, Olympia, WA 98504-7850, phone 360-236-4637, TTY 711, email HSQAFeeRules@doh.wa.gov, website doh.wa.gov, https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADOH/subscriber/new.

Additional comments: The department will use existing GovDelivery lists and other known contact information to inform interested parties of opportunities to provide input on proposed rule language. To find out more information about our rule making, visit www.doh.wa.gov. To subscribe to GovDelivery, please visit www.doh.wa.gov and select the "Sign up for Updates From DOH" button at the bottom of the page. After signing in, please click open the box labeled "Health Systems Quality Assurance." Next, click open the box labeled "Community Health Systems," and then click "Facilities" or select the relevant facility type(s).