READ FIRST TIME 01/31/12.   

     AN ACT Relating to establishing a medicaid fraud hotline; adding a new section to chapter 74.09 RCW; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 74.09 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The attorney general must, in conjunction with the office of the insurance commissioner, establish a toll-free telephone hotline that is available to members of the public to report suspected medicaid fraud. Funding for the hotline is to be provided by the office of the insurance commissioner.
     (2) The attorney general must prepare information that explains the purpose of the hotline, and the hotline telephone number must be prominently displayed in the information. The attorney general must publicize the availability of the toll-free hotline through print and electronic media, including its web site, and other means of communication with the public.
     (3) The attorney general must designate staff to be responsible for processing reports of fraud or abuse received through the hotline. The attorney general must conduct an initial review of each report. Following the initial review, the attorney general must determine which assertions require further examination and must forward this information to the medicaid fraud control unit.
     (4) The identity of a person making a report through the hotline is confidential at all times unless the person making a report consents to disclosure by written waiver, or until the investigation described in subsection (3) of this section is complete. All documents related to the report and subsequent investigation are also confidential until completion of the investigation or when the documents are otherwise statutorily exempt from public disclosure.
     (5) This section expires July 1, 2014.