The Washington State Department of Health will suspend certain services starting July 1 in the unlikely event the Legislature does not enact state budgets by June 30, 2015. The Department of Health (DOH) and the Health Care Authority sent out notices to stakeholders providing an overview of the impact a government shutdown would have on agency operations.
The CVCH WIC nutrition program would still serve clients in the event of a shut down. This is due to the critical nature of WIC services and because WIC is federally funded. If the Washington State government shuts down July 1, 2015:
• Clients can use their WIC checks at contracted stores.
• Local WIC clinics will be open to provide WIC services.
• The State WIC office will operate as usual.
• Authorized WIC vendors will still accept WIC checks and vendors will still receive payment.
The DOH has published information about potential agency closures and services affected. Click here to read more. They also published the following notice.
“If there is a state government shutdown, the Department of Health will be significantly impacted. The following health profession and health care facility regulatory services, including those pending on June 30, will not continue until the agency reopens:
• Acceptance, review or issuance of applications for new health professions credentials.
• Issuance of renewal of health profession credentials – however, the Secretary of Health will grant an administrative modification that extends the duration of those licenses, certifications, or registrations for all health profession credentials that would normally expire during the period of the shutdown.
• Acceptance or review of applications for Certificate of Need.
• Ongoing investigations and disciplinary actions for health care providers.
• Inspections and ongoing investigations for health care facilities.
• Acceptance and investigation of new complaints about health care providers or health care facilities – however, during the period of the shutdown there will be very limited monitoring of complaints about health care providers or facilities and only those involving risk of imminent harm may be investigated.
Although we remain hopeful a shutdown will not occur, we want you to be fully aware of the potential impacts to our important work.”
The Health Care Authority issued a notice:
"Our intent is to continue covering services for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) clients as well as Public Employee Benefits Board (PEBB) members, retirees, and dependents. Although we will be unable to pay Medicaid and CHIP fee-for-service providers or finalize premium payments for Medicaid managed care until a budget is passed, our expectation is that fee-for-service providers and Medicaid health plans will continue those services for now. ProviderOne will remain operative for normal billing functions during this interim, including eligibility checks and payments for dates-of-service prior to July 1."
(Click here to read the full notice from the Health Care Authority.)