wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2200 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that the state uses a mixed-delivery model for developmental disability services, relying on both state-operated facilities and placements and contracted private providers.
The legislature further finds that reliable data regarding client safety, stability, and law enforcement interaction is well-documented within state-operated facilities but lacks standardization across the network of private vendors.
The legislature intends to conduct a review of recent data and establish an ongoing data dashboard to ensure that taxpayers and families have access to an honest, apples-to-apples comparison of safety and stability outcomes across all residential service settings.
The joint legislative audit and review committee shall conduct a review of safety and stability outcomes across the department of social and health services developmental disabilities residential services continuum, as provided in this section.
The review must aggregate and compare data as described in subsections (3) and (4) of this section from the following settings for the period of January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2025:
Residential habilitation centers;
State-operated living alternatives; and
Contracted community-based residential settings, including group homes, group training homes, residential supported living, companion homes, and other similar settings.
For each setting, the review must include the following information, per calendar year, for clients assessed by the department of social and health services as having a high behavior acuity level, a high medical acuity level, or both, according to the developmental disabilities assessment:
The number of calls to 911 due to client behavioral management needs or crisis intervention;
The number of emergency room visits where the client was medically cleared for discharge but remained in the hospital due to lack of an available provider acceptance based in full or in part on behavioral or safety concerns; and
The number of instances where a client's residential placement was terminated due to the client's behavioral challenges, resulting in a transfer to state custody, incarceration, or homelessness.
The review must also include the following information for each setting identified in subsection (2) of this section:
The annual census of high behavioral or medical acuity clients in each setting, and the percentage of the overall client census that these clients represent for each setting; and
A comparison of staff retention rates across each setting.
By December 1, 2026, and in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, the joint legislative audit and review committee shall compile its review findings into a report to the legislature.
By June 1, 2027, the department shall establish a public-facing provider safety and stability dashboard on its website to allow families, guardians, and other members of the public to view aggregate data on emergency service utilization and placement stability for contracted residential settings as compared to state-operated residential settings for department clients with developmental disabilities.
Initial data for the dashboard must utilize the findings of the report required under section 2 of this act. The department shall collect the necessary data to update the dashboard. The first update must be completed by December 1, 2027, and must include updated data starting from January 1, 2026. The dashboard must be updated on an annual basis thereafter with updates completed by December 1st of each year.