BILL REQ. #:  H-4112.1 

Prefiled 01/02/08. Read first time 01/14/08.   Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.

     AN ACT Relating to reducing complications related to asthma; creating a new section; making an appropriation; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The department shall establish a project in a county west of the crest of the Cascade mountains with a population of more than seven hundred fifty thousand people to improve managing symptoms and reducing complications related to asthma among medicaid-eligible children. The department shall contract with the health department of the county in which the project is located to have trained community health workers visit medicaid-eligible children in their homes to identify and reduce exposure to asthma triggers, improve their self-management skills, and coordinate their care with their primary care and specialty providers. The contract shall include an evaluation of the services provided under the contract, including their impact on urgent physician's visits, emergency room utilization, and inpatient hospitalization.
     (2) The project must be completed by June 30, 2012.
     (3) A report based upon the evaluation must be delivered to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2012.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The sum of two hundred sixty-eight thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act expires December 31, 2012.