We have completed the fourth week of the 2023 legislative session. There are 76 days remaining for the Legislature to address the complex and burgeoning issues that are impacting the delivery of health care services to Washington’s citizens.
Washington’s population is aging, and the state’s Medicaid budget is not keeping pace with demand. A staffing crisis, fueled in large part by inadequate funding, threatens access to critically needed health and long term care services for low-income seniors. This affects everyone, not just seniors, because our hospitals are now overcrowded. Seniors are stuck in hospital beds for months beyond being medically ready to discharge because a long term care placement cannot be found; people with urgent medical needs can’t get a hospital bed.
Funding policies must address backlogs and access challenges.
The problem has been identified, discussed, and dissected for many years, and that work informs WHCA budget recommendations that are straightforward and focused:
-
Address the base Medicaid funding shortfalls that are driving staff vacancies and limiting access to care in skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, and enhanced services facilities. Our budget priorities are aligned with the DSHS recommendations for ling term care funding in these sectors, and the Governor’s budget advanced funding for a number of these measures. Send a message to ask your legislators to support funding.
-
Support and advance SB 5526/HB 1571 to support patients and workers in skilled nursing facilities by ensuring funding is current and targeted. See the issues brief. The legislation is scheduled for public hearing on Thursday in the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee. You can comment to support the bill on the Legislature’s website. Provide your contact information and sign up “pro” on the bill.
-
Target funds to the “difficult to discharge” patients who are stuck in hospitals because there are no long term care placements available. See the issues brief.
Workforce policies are critical to workforce development—and we don’t have a lot of time.
Our efforts to elevate the long term care workforce are multifaceted. We are working to continue targeted investments to improve wages for our lowest wage earners now and in the future, and we are working to remove barriers to certification and licensing standards for long term care workers which currently deter people from entering our workforce. There is much opportunity to inform legislative work intended to address the workforce problem that grows weightier as the population ages.
-
HB 1694: Home care aide training and certification. On February 10, I will testify in the House Health Care Committee on legislation related to home care aide training and certification standards. Assisted living providers who employ home care aides are familiar with some of the existing barriers for entry level workers who are thwarted by a testing system that doesn’t support the student. Support the bill.
-
SB 5499: Nurse Licensure Compact Act. Washington is one of only 11 states that has yet to adopt the multistate nurse licensure compact that would permit more expeditious transition to practice for out-of-state nurses coming to Washington to provide nursing care. Here is a map showing compact and non-compact states. Register your support for the legislation.
-
SB 5547: Nursing Staffing Pools. Washington’s oversight of nursing pools (staffing agencies) is limited and ineffective. This legislation is intended to ensure there are established standards of practice and reporting requirements for staffing agencies that, by today’s standards, simply register and pay a minimal fee to operate. Support the legislation.
