[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to screening, counseling, and treatment of hepatitis C in correctional facilities; adding a new section to chapter 72.09 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that:

(1) Hepatitis C is the most prevalent infectious disease in prison, infecting approximately forty percent of United States prison inmates;

(2) Hepatitis C is a silent killer, being largely asymptomatic until irreversible liver damage may have occurred;

(3) Hepatitis C often leads to expensive medical treatment for chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, liver cancer, liver transplants, or liver failure;

(4) Hepatitis C currently infects approximately four million five hundred thousand Americans and there are approximately thirty thousand new infections each year in the United States;

(5) Rates of hepatitis C infection in prisons are significantly higher than the estimated 1.8 percent infection rate in the general population;

(6) Inmates infected with hepatitis C present a risk of transmission through blood-to-blood contact with fellow inmates, corrections officers, and the broader community upon release;

(7) With longer prison sentences, increasing portions of the prison population with untreated hepatitis C infections may generate significant medical expenditures for correctional systems for treatment of end stage liver disease; and

(8) Screening, counseling, and early treatment of hepatitis C can be a cost-effective alternative to the expensive treatment of chronic liver disease and liver failure.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 72.09 RCW to read as follows:

The department shall:

(1) Provide appropriate hepatitis C testing, counseling, and treatment for inmates and personnel, including:

(a) Hepatitis C testing of all blood samples collected from incoming inmates upon incarceration;

(b) Hepatitis C testing upon request to current inmates and prison personnel, and provision of notice of its availability along with information on the disease to all prison inmates;

(c) Testing using an initial screening test, and in cases where the initial test is positive, one or more confirmatory tests;

(d) Development of criteria for eligibility of inmates for hepatitis C treatment;

(e) Development of protocols for hepatitis C treatment based on guidelines developed by prison health care organizations and the community standard of care, including provision of federal food and drug administration approved combination therapy;

(f) Notification of any inmate confirmed positive with hepatitis C virus of their infection and provision to the inmate of information on criteria for treatment and on availability of treatment;

(g) Provision of treatment where appropriate based on the department's protocols; and

(h) Provision of ongoing follow-up testing to determine the impact of treatment on the hepatitis C infection and to determine, after no less than three months of treatment, whether to continue a full course of treatment or suspend treatment.

(2) Provide professional training programs for corrections officers and other prison personnel on currently understood risk factors, means of transmission, detection, and treatment of hepatitis C.

(3) Report detected hepatitis C cases to the department of health.

(4) Report periodically to the department of health on the status of hepatitis C infection for inmates likely to be released within two years to the community.

(5) Provide to the legislature an annual statistical report on the prevalence of hepatitis C infection by correctional facility and trends in incidence and prevalence of hepatitis C infection in the correctional system.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department of corrections shall submit to the house of representatives criminal justice and corrections committee and the senate human services and corrections committee, by December 15, 1999, a report on how the department manages hepatitis C in the inmate population. Included in the report will be how inmates are educated about the disease, how and when they are offered testing, how the disease is managed if an inmate is determined to have hepatitis C, and an estimate of the number of inmates in the Washington prison system with hepatitis C. The report must also include recommendations to the legislature on ways to improve hepatitis C disease management and what level of funding would be necessary to appropriately test for and treat the disease.