Passed by the House April 18, 2005 Yeas 95   ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 7, 2005 Yeas 43   ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1220 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 03/09/05.
AN ACT Relating to establishing a task force on long-term care financing and chronic care management; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 (1) The governor shall establish a joint
legislative and executive task force on long-term care financing and
chronic care management. The joint task force consists of eight
members, as follows: The secretary of the department of social and
health services; the secretary of the department of health; the
administrator of the health care authority; a representative from the
governor's office; two members of the senate appointed by the president
of the senate, one of whom shall be a member of the majority caucus and
one of whom shall be a member of the minority caucus; and two members
of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house
of representatives, one of whom shall be a member of the majority
caucus and one of whom shall be a member of the minority caucus.
(2) The joint task force shall elect a member of the joint task
force to serve as chair of the joint task force.
(3) Consistent with funds appropriated specifically for this
purpose, the joint task force shall contract for professional services.
State agencies, the senate, and the house of representatives may
provide staff support upon request of the joint task force.
(4) The joint task force shall create advisory committees to assist
the joint task force in its work. The task force shall actively
consult with and solicit recommendations from the advisory committee or
committees regarding issues under consideration by the task force.
(5) Joint task force members may be reimbursed for travel expenses
as authorized under RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060, and chapter 44.04 RCW
as appropriate. Advisory committee members, if appointed, may not
receive compensation or reimbursement for travel or expenses.
(6) The joint task force shall review public and private mechanisms
for financing long-term care and make recommendations related to:
(a) The composition of a long-term care system that is adequate to
meet the needs of persons of all ages with functional limitations,
including appropriate services to be offered in the continuum of care
ranging from services to support persons residing at home through
residential care. This shall be accomplished by first determining
capacity in each level of care in the long-term care continuum and
assessing the impact, by geographic region, of increasing or decreasing
capacity in each level of care;
(b) Efficient payment models that will effectively sustain public
funding of long-term care and maximize the use of financial resources
to directly meet the needs of persons of all ages with functional
limitations;
(c) State laws and regulations that should be revised and/or
eliminated in order to reduce or contain long-term care costs to
individuals and the state;
(d) The feasibility of private options for realistically enabling
individuals to pay for long-term care and the most effective tools for
implementing these options. The assessment of options should include
but not be limited to: (i) Adequacy of personal savings and pensions;
(ii) availability of family care, including incentives and supports for
families to provide care or pay for care; (iii) creative
community-based strategies or partnerships for funding quality
long-term care; (iv) enhanced health insurance options; (v) long-term
care insurance options, including incentives to purchase long-term care
insurance through individual or group-based products; (vi) life
insurance annuities; and (vii) reverse mortgage and other products that
draw on home equity; and
(e) Options that will support long-term care needs of rural
communities.
(7) The joint task force shall recommend chronic care management
and disability prevention interventions that will reduce health care
and long-term care costs to individuals and the state, improve the
health of individuals over their life span, and encourage patient
self-management of chronic care needs.
(8) The joint task force shall incorporate a process designed to
facilitate an open dialog with the public on findings and
recommendations.
(9) The joint task force shall: (a) Report its initial findings to
the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature by January
1, 2006; (b) report its recommendations to the governor and appropriate
committees of the legislature by January 1, 2007; and (c) submit a
final report to the governor and appropriate committees of the
legislature by June 30, 2007.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 If specific funding for the purposes of this
act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by
June 30, 2005, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and
void.