FOR RELEASE: Jan. 29, 2007

House committee approves strong legislation to regulate health care providers

(Olympia) – The House Health & Wellness Committee today to approve a measure to crack down on negligent, incompetent, or criminal health care providers. The Bill was introduced by Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Roy), who has been pushing stricter regulations on errant health care providers for a number of years.

“This bill really opens up lines of communications between the health care consumer and the health care professionals,” Campbell said. “But, even more important, it turns the emphasis and direction to the consumer, and not the professional health care provider. It recognizes that it’s a privilege, not a right to practice.”

Substitute House Bill 1103, which passed the committee by a 9-4 vote, has three major provisions:

• It requires the state Dept. of Health to set requirements for all out-of-state health care providers, seeking to be licensed by the state, to undergo a Washington State Patrol background check prior to issuance of any license;
• It provides for uniform sanctions of all health care license holders who commit unprofessional conduct;
• It shifts the authority to issue emergency suspensions and decisions to investigate directly to the Secretary of the Dept. of Health.
• Require providers, hospitals, and those in a clinical care setting to report dangerous or unprofessional conduct to the Dept. of Health.

“It’s not enough to say a provider has a state license, so therefore you can be confident the provider will do you no harm, Campbell said. "You have to be assured that a licensed profession in Washington is competent.”

Campbell said the bill is a major policy decision and a big directional shift from the status quo. “It says the state demands that the patient comes first, so the public can gain confidence in our health system."

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Contact: Rep. Tom Campbell @ (360) 786-7912 or Campbell.tom@leg.wa.gov.