Washington Revised Code Title 18. Businesses and Professions § 18.20.510. Work group--Quality metrics

(1) The department shall facilitate a work group process to recommend quality metrics for assisted living facilities. The department shall keep a public record of comments submitted by stakeholders throughout the work group process.

(2) The work group shall consist of representatives from the department; assisted living provider associations; the long-term care ombuds; organizations with expertise in serving persons with mental health needs in an institutional setting, as selected by the department; organizations with expertise in serving persons with developmental disability needs in an institutional setting, as selected by the department; organizations with expertise in serving culturally diverse and non-English-speaking persons in an institutional setting, as selected by the department; health care professionals with experience caring for diverse and non-English-speaking patients, as selected by the department; licensed health care professionals with experience caring for geriatric patients, as selected by the department; and an Alzheimer's advocacy organization. The work group may solicit input from individuals with additional expertise, if necessary.

(3) The work group shall make an interim report by September 1, 2019, and final recommendations to the appropriate legislative committees by September 1, 2020, and shall include a dissent report if agreement is not achieved among stakeholders and the department.

(4) The work group must submit recommendations for a quality metric system, propose a process for monitoring and tracking performance, and recommend a process to inform consumers.

(5) The department shall include at least one meeting dedicated to review and analysis of other states with quality metric methodologies for assisted living and must include information on how well each state is achieving quality care outcomes. In addressing data metrics the work group shall consider whether the data that must be reported reflect and promote quality of care and whether reporting the data is unnecessarily burdensome upon assisted living facilities.