(2) Six assistant secretaries direct specific programs within the department.

     (a) The assistant secretary for epidemiology and health statistics:

     (i) Collects and analyzes data that provides information about the health of the population, hospital costs, hospital diagnosis and procedures;

     (ii) Collects information on all births, deaths, marriages, and divorces within the state and makes official documentation of these events available to the public;

     (iii) Conducts surveillance of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and other health-related events. Investigates disease outbreaks, epidemics, and clusters; provides technical assistance and advice in developing and implementing prevention/control programs; provides expert consultation to local health departments on epidemiologically impacted issues and, when necessary, directs support for responding to emergent public health situations;

     (iv) Develops a health services information system that supports the implementation of health reform as envisioned under the Health Services Act of 1993, and monitors the effectiveness of the reformed health care environment;

     (v) Monitors the consistency, quality, continuity, and comprehensiveness of the department's health assessment activities, including disease surveillance and program evaluation;

     (iv) Provides a scientific basis for health policy and program management decisions within the department and, when requested, to local health departments.

     (b) The assistant secretary for health systems quality assurance:

     (i) Administers laws and enforces rules, regulations, and standards for the following professions:

Acupuncturists

Airway management technicians

Animal technicians

Chiropractic x-ray technicians

Controlled substance researchers

Counselors/registered & certified

Dental hygienists

Dentists

Denturists

Dieticians/nutritionists

Dispensing opticians

Doctors of chiropractic

Drug manufacturers & wholesalers

Emergency medical technicians

First responders

Health care assistants

Hearing aid fitters

Intravenous technicians

Legend drug sample distributors

Massage practitioners

Midwives

Naturopathic physicians

Nursing assistants

Nursing home administrators

Nursing pools

Occupational therapists

Occupational therapists' assistants

Ocularists

Optometrists

Osteopathic physicians and surgeons

Osteopathic physicians' assistants

Osteopathic physicians' acupuncture assistants

Pharmacists

Paramedics

Pharmacy assistants

Physical therapists

Physicians and surgeons

Physician assistants

Podiatric physicians and surgeons

Practical nurses

Psychologists

Radiological technologists

Registered nurses

Respiratory care practitioners

Sex offender treatment providers

Veterinarians

Veterinary med clerks

X-ray technicians

     (ii) Sets standards, inspects, licenses, or certifies, provides consultation, and reviews and approves construction of new buildings, alterations, additions, and conversions of health and residential care facilities for:

Acute care hospitals

Adult residential rehabilitation centers

Alcoholism treatment facilities

Alcoholism hospitals

Ambulatory surgery centers

Boarding homes

Childbirth centers

Child day care centers

Comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation

Department of corrections facilities

Juvenile rehabilitation facilities

End stage renal disease centers

Eye banks

Ferry systems

Group care facilities for children

Home health care agencies

Home care agencies

Hospice agencies

Hospice care facilities

Occupational therapist-independent practice

Outpatient physical therapy/speech pathology

Physical therapist-independent practice

Private adult treatment homes

Psychiatric hospitals

Residential treatment facilities for psychiatrically impaired children & youth

Rural health care facilities

Rural health care clinics

Soldiers' home

State school for the blind

State school for the deaf

State hospitals for the mentally ill

Temporary worker housing

Transient accommodations

Veterans' home

     (iii) Regulates the development of various new health care facilities and services based on community need, financial feasibility, cost containment, and quality of care;

     (iv) Establishes and promotes a system of emergency medical and trauma services, which includes: Developing, evaluating, and monitoring training programs; licensing and inspection; and technical assistance for a comprehensive statewide integrated emergency medical system; and

     (v) Regulates clinical laboratory testing sites and practices.

     (c) The assistant secretary for community and family health is responsible for assessing the health status of Washington state citizens regarding disease, injury, and nutrition; developing policy based on those assessments that will prevent disease, premature death and disability, and will promote health lifestyles and environments; and assuring access to quality services consistent with approved policy in the following areas:

     (i) Comprehensive planning for health services for children and adolescents and their families and primary caretakers, including parenting education, nutrition consultation, oral health programs, teen pregnancy prevention and immunizations;

     (ii) A continuum of services designed for infants or children with, or at risk for, special health care needs and their families;

     (iii) High quality low cost, comprehensive family planning and reproductive health care services;

     (iv) Health and support services for pregnant women, lactating and other post-partum women, and infants;

     (v) Supplemental foods, nutrition education, and referral for health services for eligible pregnant women, lactating and other post-partum women, and infants and children at risk;

     (vi) Programs to control the complications of diabetes and to identify and develop interventions for the prevention of death and disability from intentional and unintentional injury;

     (vii) Public education and marketing campaigns on a spectrum of health related topics; programs which develop and supply health and safety educational materials to schools, local health, and community agencies;

     (viii) Surveillance and services designed to reduce death and disease related to cancer, heart disease and stroke by providing public education/awareness programs, screening projects, professional education, and development of community coalitions;

     (ix) Surveillance and services that interrupt the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD), and reduce associated morbidity and mortality by planning, as well as supporting the individual rights and human dignity of those infected and those considered at risk; and

     (x) Surveillance and services that reduce the morbidity and mortality due to tuberculosis and vaccine-preventable disease.

     (d) The assistant secretary for environmental health provides training, public education services, and technical assistance to local health agencies and other agencies; and provides direct surveillance, monitoring, and enforcement activities to prevent, control, and abate health hazards and nuisances related to:

     (i) Contaminated shellfish;

     (ii) Contamination due to illegal drug manufacturing and storage;

     (iii) Disease-carrying insects and rodents;

     (iv) Disposal of solid and liquid wastes;

     (v) Food service sanitation;

     (vi) On-site sewage disposal;

     (vii) Public drinking water systems;

     (viii) Ionizing radiation;

     (ix) Schools, campgrounds, and parks;

     (x) Toxic substance exposure; and

     (xi) Water recreation facilities.

     (e) The assistant secretary for public health laboratories oversees laboratories that aid in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of various diseases by:

     (i) Testing and analyzing clinical and environmental specimens and samples including food, food products, shellfish, drinking water, and seawater;

     (ii) Testing to detect certain treatable metabolic disorders in newborns;

     (iii) Testing for radioactivity in materials, mine tailings, and ores; and

     (iv) Performing inorganic and organic chemical analyses on drinking water, and other environmental samples such as soil, paint chips, ceramics and potteries, beverages, food, and others.

     (f) The assistant secretary for management services provides administrative, financial, contracting, facility information processing, and human resource services to the department's operating programs.

     (3)(a) Each assistant secretary is hereby delegated authority to administer the programs within their respective areas of responsibility, including, without limitation, the authority to sign documents on behalf of the secretary and the department. Each assistant secretary is authorized to further delegate his or her authority to such persons and in such manner as deemed necessary or appropriate in the management of the department's business.

     (b) In the absence of the secretary, the following are authorized to act on behalf of the department:

     (i) The deputy secretary;

     (ii) In the absence of the deputy secretary, the state health officer;

     (iii) In the absence of the state health officer, the assistant secretary for management services;

     (iv) In the absence of all of the foregoing, any assistant secretary.