Washington Administrative Code

This chapter is adopted by the Washington state department of health pursuant to RCW 43.70.052 and 43.70.053 relating to uniform reporting of data elements identifying each hospital's revenues, expenses, contractual allowances, charity care, bad debt, other income, total units of…

The definitions in this section apply throughout the chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.(1) "Department" means the Washington state department of health created by chapter 43.70 RCW.(2) "Hospital" means any health care institution which is required to qualify f…

(1) Each hospital annually shall file its year-end report with the department within 120 days after the close of its fiscal year in the form and manner specified by the department. The 120-day period may be extended up to and including an additional 60 days upon submission of ade…

Each hospital shall submit a quarterly summary utilization and financial report within 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The quarterly report shall contain that information specified by the department and shall be submitted in the form and manner specified by the de…

Upon receipt of a request in detail to the satisfaction of the department, the department in its discretion may approve an alternative system for reporting of information under WAC 246-454-050 or 246-454-070 by a hospital for such period(s) or portion thereof as the department sh…

This chapter is adopted by the Washington state department of health pursuant to RCW 43.70.040 and 43.70.052 relating to the collection and maintenance of patient discharge data, including data necessary for identification of discharges by diagnosis-related groups.[Statutory Auth…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:(1) "CHARS" means comprehensive hospital abstract reporting system.(2) "CHARS Companion Guide" means the written technical guidelines for creating and submitting hospital …

(1) Hospitals shall collect and report the following data set elements to the department:(a) Patient control number: Patient's unique alpha-numeric number assigned by the hospital to facilitate retrieval of individual patient records;(b) Patient medical record number;(c) Type of …

(1) In addition to the data elements required by WAC 246-455-020, hospitals must collect additional information on patient's ethnicity, race, preferred language, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation. When requesting demographic information under this section, hospi…

(1) Beginning October 1, 2022, a hospital that is certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a critical access hospital, is certified by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services as a sole community hospital, or qualifies as a medicare dependent hospital m…

(1) A hospital shall submit data in the format prescribed by the department. The data must comply with the requirements in the CHARS Procedure Manual and CHARS Companion Guide. Additional information not listed in WAC 246-455-020 and 246-455-025 may be required by the department …

(1) A hospital shall submit data to the department or the department's designee within 45 calendar days following the end of each calendar month.(2) The department designee shall submit the data to the department after receiving the data from the hospital in the time frame prescr…

The department or the department's designee shall edit the data as follows:(1) Record layout compatibility edits on data submitted in accordance with WAC 246-455-020 and 246-455-025; and(2) Verification of the data set elements set forth in WAC 246-455-020 and 246-455-025.[Statut…

(1) All data revisions required as a result of the edits performed pursuant to WAC 246-455-060 shall be corrected by the hospital and returned to the department or the department's designee within 14 working days after the submission deadline in WAC 246-455-050.(2) The department…

(1) The department may create and release data files with patient discharge information as allowed under RCW 43.70.052 and this chapter. The type of information contained in the file, including direct and indirect patient identifiers, determines the category and permitted release…

(1) A government agency requesting data files that contain direct patient identifiers for nonresearch purposes must comply with the requirement of RCW 43.70.052 and this section. The department will not release data to a government agency requesting data from the department pursu…

(1) A researcher requesting data files that contains direct patient identifiers for research must comply with the requirements of RCW 43.70.052 and this section. The department will not release data to a researcher requesting data from the department until all the requirements of…

(1) All requests for data under this section must comply with the requirements of RCW 43.70.052 and this section. The department will not release data to an individual or entity requesting data from the department pursuant to this section until all the requirements of this sectio…

(1) All written data use agreements with the department for the release of patient discharge data must comply with the requirements of RCW 43.70.052 and this section.(2) A data use agreement with the department is required for the following:(a) Government agencies requesting data…

(1) The department retains the discretion to determine what form or format is most appropriate to provide to a particular requestor. Where the department provides data files on a routine schedule, the department may automate file production. The department may manually produce da…

(1) The department may not charge a fee for state officials and agencies receiving data funded through the state general appropriation.(2) The department shall collect nonrefundable fees as follows:(a) One hundred ten dollars per standard data file;(b) Fifty dollars per standard …

These rules implement the prescription monitoring program, established by the legislature in chapter 70.225 RCW, as a means to promote the public health, safety, and welfare and to detect and prevent prescription drug abuse.[Statutory Authority: Chapter 70.225 RCW and 2007 c 259.…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:(1) "Authentication" means information, electronic device, or certificate provided by the department or their designee to a data requestor to electronically access prescri…

Pursuant to RCW 70.225.020, the pharmacy quality assurance commission may add additional drugs to the list of drugs being monitored by the program by requesting the department amend these rules.[Statutory Authority: RCW 70.225.020 and 70.225.025. WSR 14-07-099, § 246-470-020, fil…

(1) A dispenser shall provide to the department the dispensing information required by RCW 70.225.020 and this section for all scheduled II, III, IV, and V controlled substances and for drugs identified by the pharmacy quality assurance commission under WAC 246-470-020. Only drug…

A veterinarian licensed under chapter 18.92 RCW shall provide to the department the dispensing information required by RCW 70.225.020 and as provided in this section for all schedule II, III, IV and V controlled substances and for drugs identified by the pharmacy quality assuranc…

(1) A facility, entity, office, or provider group that is subject to the prescription monitoring program integration mandate requirement in RCW 70.225.090 (2)(a), and is experiencing an economic hardship, technological limitation, or other exceptional circumstances as stated in R…

A patient or a patient's personal representative may obtain a report listing all prescription monitoring information that pertains to the patient.(1) Procedure for obtaining information. A patient or a patient's personal representative requesting information pursuant to this sect…

(1) Access.(a) The local health officer or a licensed health care practitioner authorized by the local health officer may obtain prescription monitoring information for the purposes of patient follow-up and care coordination following a controlled substance overdose event.(b) A p…

(1) Access.(a) A health care facility or entity may have access to prescription monitoring information for the purpose of providing medical or pharmaceutical care to the patients of the facility or entity or for quality improvement purposes, provided that the facility or entity i…

(1) Access. The coordinated care electronic tracking program may have access to data for the purposes of:(a) Providing program data to emergency department personnel when the patient registers in the emergency department; and(b) Providing notice to the patient's providers, approp…

(1) Access. Facilities, entities, and provider groups which have elected to receive information as identified in WAC 246-470-052 shall receive quarterly reports from the department with facility or entity and individual prescriber information for quality improvement purposes of t…

Local, state, federally recognized tribe, or federal law enforcement officials and prosecutorial officials may obtain prescription monitoring information for a bona fide specific investigation involving a designated person. A local, state, federally recognized tribe, or federal c…

Established prescription monitoring programs may obtain prescription monitoring information for requests from within their jurisdiction that do not violate the provisions of this chapter or chapter 70.225 RCW.(1) The other prescription monitoring program must provide substantiall…

(1) The department may provide prescription monitoring information in a format established by the department to any public or private entity for statistical, research, or educational purposes.(2) Before the department releases any requested information, the department shall remov…

(1) The department may provide dispenser and prescriber data that includes indirect patient identifiers to the Washington state hospital association's coordinated quality improvement program (CQIP).(2) Before providing data to the association's CQIP the department will enter into…

Under RCW 70.225.040, prescription monitoring information is confidential, and maintained in compliance with chapter 70.02 RCW and federal health care information privacy requirements. Prescription monitoring information that has been disclosed to a health care provider under the…

In addition to the penalties described in RCW 70.225.060, if the department determines a person has intentionally or knowingly used or disclosed prescription monitoring information in violation of chapter 70.225 RCW, the department may take action including, but not limited to:(1…

The definitions in RCW 69.48.020 apply to this chapter unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.[Statutory Authority: RCW 69.48.180 and 69.48.120. WSR 19-14-090, § 246-480-020, filed 7/1/19, effective 8/1/19.]

(1) Upon review of an inquiry response letter described in RCW 69.48.040(3), the department shall notify the person or entity in writing whether or not the person or entity is considered a covered manufacturer. If the department determines that the person or entity is a covered m…

In addition to this section, the drug take-back proposal must comply with chapter 69.48 RCW. Each proposal must be on a form provided by the department and must:(1) Contain a table of contents clearly denoting, at a minimum, where each component specified in RCW 69.48.050 is loca…

(1) A potential drug take-back program operator shall submit to the department:(a) Its proposal to be an approved program in the format provided by the department; and(b) The proposal review fee in WAC 246-480-990.(2) An approved drug take-back program operator shall submit to th…

(1) To assist the program operators in complying with RCW 69.48.060 (3)(c) and (d), the department will determine and locate each population center consistent with RCW 69.48.060 and this chapter using geographical information systems (GIS) mapping technology, and will publish upd…

(1) Program operators shall coordinate to present a consistent statewide drug take-back system as described in RCW 69.48.050 and 69.48.070.(2) Each program operator is independently responsible for complying with all requirements of chapter 69.48 RCW and this chapter. Each progra…

(1) Each program operator shall submit an annual report to the department by July 1st in the format provided by the department.(2) To ensure consistency of program operator reporting and ensure the department can accurately analyze the data, the annual program report must include…

(1) Consistent with RCW 69.48.170, chapter 42.56 RCW, and other applicable laws, proprietary information submitted to the department under chapter 69.48 RCW is exempt from public disclosure. The manufacturer or drug take-back organization must identify in writing the information …

(1) Until January 1, 2024, a potential program operator applicant submitting a proposal in accordance with RCW 69.48.050(8) shall submit a nonrefundable proposal review fee of $157,000 to the department when they submit their proposal.(2) After January 1, 2024, a potential progra…

(1) "Department" means the department of health.(2) "Human research review board" is a standing institutional review board operating under state law, chapter 42.48 RCW.(3) "Confidential portion of the birth and fetal death certificates" means pertinent information relative to the…

(1) If you request vital records information without personal identifiers for research purposes or statistical study or if the state registrar determines that your research or statistical study does not require the use of personal identifiers, you will receive the vital records i…

The father and/or mother of any child whose birth has been registered may, during the minority of said child, change the given name of the child on the record by filing an affidavit of change with the state registrar.[Statutory Authority: RCW 43.70.040 and 43.70.150. WSR 92-02-01…