Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington state and the federal government took steps to allow health care facilities to rapidly expand to meet the demands for acute hospital beds. Under the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created an Acute Hospital Care at Home program. This program allowed licensed acute care hospitals to treat some patients in their home with similar services that would be provided in the hospital. At a state level, hospitals were permitted to participate in this program pursuant to waivers in Gov. Inslee’s COVID-19 emergency proclamation followed by the Department of Health’s exercise of regulatory flexibility after those proclamations were rescinded.
This year, Substitute House Bill 2295 passed the legislature (PDF), providing a permanent pathway for hospitals to provide acute care hospital services in a patient’s home. This legislation went into effect on June 6, 2024. The law allows hospitals with active federal waivers from CMS to operate hospital at home programs between June 6, 2024 and the date the department adopts rules (by December 31, 2025).
Hospitals that have a CMS waiver and are operating a hospital-at-home program need to fill out this form (PDF), notifying the Department of Health (DOH). Completed forms should be emailed to ochsfacilities@doh.wa.gov by August 1, 2024.