2020 Regular Session

ByRepresentatives Davis and Macri

Prefiled 01/09/20.Read first time 01/13/20.Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.

AN ACT Relating to contingency management; adding a new section to chapter 71.05 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 71.05 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The authority, in consultation with the managed care organizations that the authority contracts with to provide health services to medical assistance clients, shall establish a pilot project to test reimbursement methodologies for providing a contingency management component to the counseling services provided to patients with substance use disorders. The authority shall identify two sites to participate in the pilot project. Participants in the project may receive positive reinforcers in the form of vouchers or prizes totaling no more than six hundred dollars per patient over the course of twelve weeks.

(2) By December 1, 2021, the authority shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature on the contingency management reimbursement pilot project. The report shall analyze the characteristics of the participating patients, provide recommendations as to which patients may realize the greatest benefit from a contingency management component to their counseling services, analyze the different options in designing an effective contingency management component to counseling services for the patients receiving substance use disorder services, identify funding options for providing a contingency management component to counseling services, recommend ways to design a contingency management component to counseling services that will receive federal matching funds under the medicaid program, calculate the anticipated costs of providing a contingency management component to counseling services for patients with a substance use disorder on a statewide basis, and provide recommendations regarding effective communication to the community about the role of contingency management in counseling services.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "contingency management" means a supplement to counseling treatment that rewards participants through positive reinforcers for attending treatment or abstaining from substance use.

(4) This section expires June 30, 2022.