HB 1432 Has a Hearing Friday February 1, 2019

House Bill 1432 an act related to hospital privileging of ARNPs has a hearing in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee. Here is a link to the bill. https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1432&Year=2019&Initiative=false Last year the bill passed the House unanimously and made it through the Senate committee but the session ended before it had a floor vote.  The bill is scheduled for a vote by the House committee February 6.  Please monitor the bill and send your representatives a message asking for their support. Here is some suggested language you can modify.

Washington law currently requires hospitals to perform background checks and scrutinize whether any disciplinary or legal action has occurred only when hiring and privileging a physician. This protects patient safety only with respect to physicians.  When the law was originally written in the 1980s, few ARNPs were hired and privileged by hospitals.  Increasingly, ARNPs practice in hospitals in many capacities. While hospitals typically apply the same standards to ARNPs as they do to physicians, the law does not require this. HB 1432 provides a technical fix to include ARNPs in the state’s hospital privileging law. 

ARNPs United is working to protect and promote your practice, assure patient safety and access to care.  If you are not a member, please join the organization to show your support of our work on your behalf.