| Passed by the Senate March 1, 2007 YEAS 47 BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House April 3, 2007 YEAS 97 FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5263 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. THOMAS HOEMANN ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved April 13, 2007, 10:39 a.m. CHRISTINE GREGOIRE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | April 13, 2007 Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2007 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/02/07.
AN ACT Relating to medical malpractice closed claim reporting; and amending RCW 48.140.020.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 48.140.020 and 2006 c 8 s 202 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) For claims closed on or after January 1, 2008:
(a) Every insuring entity or self-insurer that provides medical
malpractice insurance to any facility or provider in Washington state
must report each medical malpractice closed claim to the commissioner.
(b) If a claim is not covered by an insuring entity or self-insurer, the facility or provider named in the claim must report it to
the commissioner after a final claim disposition has occurred due to a
court proceeding or a settlement by the parties.
Instances in which a claim may not be covered by an insuring entity
or self-insurer include, but are not limited to, situations in which
the:
(i) Facility or provider did not buy insurance or maintained a
self-insured retention that was larger than the final judgment or
settlement;
(ii) Claim was denied by an insuring entity or self-insurer because
it did not fall within the scope of the insurance coverage agreement;
or
(iii) Annual aggregate coverage limits had been exhausted by other
claim payments.
(c) If a facility or provider is insured by a risk retention group
and the risk retention group refuses to report closed claims and
asserts that the federal liability risk retention act (95 Stat. 949; 15
U.S.C. Sec. 3901 et seq.) preempts state law, the facility or provider
must report all data required by this chapter on behalf of the risk
retention group.
(d) If a facility or provider is insured by an unauthorized insurer
and the unauthorized insurer refuses to report closed claims and
asserts a federal exemption or other jurisdictional preemption, the
facility or provider must report all data required by this chapter on
behalf of the unauthorized insurer.
(2) Beginning in 2009, reports required under subsection (1) of
this section must be filed by March 1st, and include data for all
claims closed in the preceding calendar year and any adjustments to
data reported in prior years. The commissioner may adopt rules that
require insuring entities, self-insurers, facilities, or providers to
file closed claim data electronically.
(3) The commissioner may impose a fine of up to two hundred fifty
dollars per day against any insuring entity, except a risk retention
group, that violates the requirements of this section.
(4) The department of health, department of licensing, or
department of social and health services may require a provider or
facility to take corrective action to assure compliance with the
requirements of this section.