Provider and Health Care Facility Licensing.

The Department of Health (DOH) and the health professions boards and commissions regulate over 430,000 health care providers in approximately 86 different health professions.  The division of regulatory responsibilities between the DOH and the health professions boards and commissions varies by profession for licensing, examination, discipline, and rulemaking activities.  The Uniform Disciplinary Act governs disciplinary actions for all credentialed health care providers.  

The DOH also licenses a number of health care facilities including acute care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, childbirth centers, behavioral health agencies, hospice care centers, kidney centers, medical test sites, pharmacies, and residential treatment facilities.  The DOH does not license or otherwise credential health care clinics or provider organizations. 

Hospital Financial Reporting.

Hospitals licensed in Washington must provide the DOH with a series of financial and governance related reports.  Public and nonprofit hospitals must either provide employee compensation information submitted to the Federal Internal Revenue Service or provide the compensation information for the five highest compensated employees of the hospital who do not have direct patient responsibilities

Beginning July 1, 2022, health systems that operate a hospital must annually submit a consolidated income statement and balance sheet to the DOH regarding the facilities that they operate in Washington, including hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, health clinics, urgent care clinics, physician groups, health-related laboratories, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, dialysis facilities, ambulance services, behavioral health settings, and virtual care entities.  The DOH must make the income statements and balance sheets, as well as the audited financial statements, publicly available.

The DOH, in consultation with the Health Care Authority, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, the Office of the Governor, the Office of Financial Management, and with input from stakeholders, must develop a plan and provide recommendations on how to create a complete and interactive registry of the health care landscape in Washington.  The plan and recommendations must identify:

• the health care entities, including licensed and unlicensed health care facilities, providers, provider groups, systems, health carriers, and health care benefit managers, that must report;
• the information that each entity must report; and
• the fee to be charged by the reporting entities, which may be tiered.

In developing the plan and recommendations, the DOH must consider:

• opportunities to streamline reporting and allow for information sharing between state agencies; and
• strategies to fully understand and monitor the business structure, funding, and contractual relationships of health care entities in Washington, including the current status and future changes in the direct or indirect ownership, control, or affiliation of and between health care entities and other entities and organizations, including private equity investment, that serve Washingtonians.

The DOH must provide a progress update to the relevant health and fiscal committees of the Legislature by December 21, 2027, and a final report by November 1, 2028.