BILL REQ. #:  H-5010.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/10/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to using the health professions account for professional education and recruitment and retention; amending RCW 43.70.320; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that there are currently millions of dollars in the health professions account that could be used to improve the quality of health care offered by health professionals, recruit and retain the most qualified health professionals, and protect the public from health professionals that pose a risk to the safety of patients in Washington state. These funds, however, are not accessible to the health care practitioners who paid this money to the account and they serve nobody when they remain unused in an account. These funds must be used to provide the maximum benefit to the professions that paid the fees and to protect the health and safety of the patients that are served by these professions.

Sec. 2   RCW 43.70.320 and 1993 c 492 s 411 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) There is created in the state treasury an account to be known as the health professions account. All fees received by the department for health professions licenses, registration, certifications, renewals, or examinations and the civil penalties assessed and collected by the department under RCW 18.130.190 shall be forwarded to the state treasurer who shall credit such moneys to the health professions account.
     (2) All expenses incurred in carrying out the health professions licensing activities of the department shall be paid from the account as authorized by legislative appropriation. Any residue in the account shall be accumulated and shall not revert to the general fund at the end of the biennium.
     (3) The secretary shall biennially prepare a budget request based on the anticipated costs of administering the health professions licensing activities of the department which shall include the estimated income from health professions fees.
     (4) The board or commission of any individual health profession listed in RCW 18.130.040(2)(b), in consultation with the secretary, may spend resources that exceed the cost of administering and maintaining that profession's program. The secretary is responsible for determining whether an individual profession meets this requirement. Funds may be spent to support activities that promote efforts affecting the profession and the patients that they serve including, expediting the processing and investigation of complaints of unprofessional conduct, hiring additional staff to investigate and adjudicate complaints of unprofessional conduct, assuring compliance with orders of the board or commission as necessary to protect the public, upgrading systems and resources to accelerate the disciplinary process, and recruiting and retaining quality health care providers. As part of the department's biennial budget request, the secretary shall request an appropriation for the purposes of implementing this subsection.