wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2577 > Original Bill
The department shall make or cause to be made an unannounced inspection of all hospitals at least every 18 months. Every inspection of a hospital may include an inspection of every part of the premises. The department may make an examination of all phases of the hospital operation necessary to determine compliance with the law and the standards, rules, and regulations adopted thereunder.
The department shall not issue its final report regarding an unannounced inspection by the department until: (a) The hospital is given at least two weeks following the inspection to provide any information or documentation requested by the department during the unannounced inspection that was not available at the time of the request; and (b) at least one person from the department conducting the inspection meets personally with the chief administrator or executive officer of the hospital following the inspection or the chief administrator or executive officer declines such a meeting.
Any licensee or applicant desiring to make alterations or additions to its facilities or to construct new facilities shall, before commencing such alteration, addition or new construction, comply with the regulations prescribed by the department.
No hospital licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be required to be inspected or licensed under other state laws or rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, or local ordinances, relative to hotels, restaurants, lodging houses, boarding houses, places of refreshment, nursing homes, maternity homes, or psychiatric hospitals.
To avoid unnecessary duplication in inspections, the department shall coordinate with the department of social and health services, the office of the state fire marshal, and local agencies when inspecting facilities over which each agency has jurisdiction, the facilities including but not necessarily being limited to hospitals with both acute care and skilled nursing or psychiatric nursing functions. The department shall notify the office of the state fire marshal and the relevant local agency at least four weeks prior to any inspection conducted under this section and invite their attendance at the inspection, and shall provide a copy of its inspection report to each agency upon completion.
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In the event of a federal, state, or local emergency, if the department determines that conducting an unannounced inspection is not in the best interest of public health, the department may temporarily pause inspections of an individual hospital or all hospitals until it determines it is appropriate to resume.
The provisions of (a) of this subsection do not prohibit or limit the department's responsibility to investigate concerns related to patient well-being described in RCW 70.41.155.
Surveys conducted on hospitals by the department for the purpose of certification by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services or a department recognized and approved accrediting body for the purpose of accreditation or certification by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services shall be deemed equivalent to a department survey if the department determines that the applicable survey standards are substantially equivalent to its own.
Hospitals so surveyed shall provide to the department within 30 days of learning the result of a survey documentary evidence that the hospital has been certified as a result of a survey and the date of the survey.
Hospitals shall make available to department surveyors the written reports of such surveys during department surveys, upon request.
Hospitals that provide the department with documentary evidence as described in subsection (1) of this section shall be exempt from the inspection frequency described in RCW 70.41.120(1), and instead will be inspected at least every 36 months.
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In the event of a federal, state, or local emergency, if the department determines that conducting an unannounced inspection is not in the best interest of public health, the department may temporarily pause inspections of an individual hospital or all hospitals until it determines it is appropriate to resume.
The provisions of (a) of this subsection do not prohibit or limit the department's responsibility to investigate concerns related to patient well-being described in RCW 70.41.155.
Standards for fire protection and the enforcement thereof, with respect to all hospitals to be licensed hereunder shall be the responsibility of the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, who shall adopt, after approval by the department, the recognized standards applicable to hospitals for the protection of life against the cause and spread of fire and fire hazards adopted by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services for hospitals that care for medicare or medicaid beneficiaries. The standards used for an inspection of an existing hospital, or existing portion thereof, shall be standards for existing buildings and not standards for new construction. The department upon receipt of an application for a license, shall submit to the director of fire protection in writing, a request for an inspection, giving the applicant's name and the location of the premises to be licensed. Upon receipt of such a request, the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, or his or her deputy, shall make an inspection of the hospital to be licensed during the department's inspection. If it is found that the premises do not comply with the required safety standards and fire regulations as adopted pursuant to this chapter, the director of fire protection, or his or her deputy, shall promptly make a written report to the department listing the corrective actions required. The department shall incorporate the written report into the department's final inspection report. The applicant or licensee shall submit corrections to comply with the fire protection standards along with any other licensing inspection corrections to the department. The department shall submit the section of the statement of corrections from the applicant or licensee regarding fire protection standards to the director of fire protection. If the hospital's noncompliance constitutes immediate jeopardy, as defined in RCW 70.41.020, or a condition-level violation, the director of fire protection, or his or her deputy, may reinspect the premises. Whenever the hospital to be licensed meets with the approval of the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, he or she shall submit to the department, in a timely manner so the license will not be delayed, a written report approving the hospital with respect to fire protection, and such report is required before a full license can be issued. The chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, shall make or cause to be made inspections of such hospitals at least once every 18 months. Inspections conducted consistent with the requirements in RCW 70.41.122 shall be deemed equivalent to an inspection by the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, for purposes of meeting the requirements for the inspections specified in this section, and shall be conducted every 36 months, as described in RCW 70.41.122(3).
The director of fire protection shall designate one lead deputy state fire marshal on a regional basis to provide consistency with each of the department's survey teams for the purpose of conducting the fire protection inspection during the department's licensing inspection. The director of fire protection shall ensure deputy state fire marshals are provided orientation with the department on the unique environment of hospitals before they conduct fire protection inspections in hospitals. The orientation shall include, but not be limited to: Clinical environment of hospitals; operating room environment; fire protection practices in hospitals; full participation in a complete licensing inspection of at least one urban hospital; and full participation in a complete licensing inspection of at least one rural hospital.
In cities which have in force a comprehensive building code, the provisions of which are determined by the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, to be equal to the minimum standards of the code for hospitals adopted by the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, the chief of the fire department, provided the latter is a paid chief of a paid fire department, shall make the inspection with the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, or his or her deputy and they shall jointly approve the premises before a full license can be issued.
For the purposes of this section, "condition-level violation" means noncompliance that does not present an immediate jeopardy or threat to patient health or safety, but the deficient practice does limit the hospital's capacity to furnish safe and effective care that meets the needs of the patient and otherwise does not substantially meet the applicable licensing requirements.