Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024
(1) A
facility, entity, office, or provider group that is subject to the prescription
monitoring program integration mandate requirement in
RCW
70.225.090(2)(a), and is
experiencing an economic hardship, technological limitation, or other
exceptional circumstances as stated in RCW 70.225.-090 (2)(b), may submit an
attestation to the department for a waiver from the integration mandate. The
attestation must be submitted on forms provided by the department. The waiver
is deemed granted upon submission.
(2) A facility, entity, office, or provider
group that has been granted a waiver from the mandate in
RCW
70.225.090(2)(a) shall be
exempt from the prescription monitoring program integration mandate for the
calendar year in which the attestation is received by the department beginning
with the effective date of this section.
(a)
For economic hardship and technical limitation, a facility, entity, office, or
provider group may submit up to three annual attestations, giving the facility,
entity, office, or provider group up to three years to integrate its electronic
health record with the prescription monitoring program.
(b) There is no limit on the number of other
exceptional circumstance waivers under subsection (3)(c) of this section that a
facility, entity, office, or provider group may submit.
(3) A facility, entity, office, or provider
group may submit an attestation for a waiver from the mandate due to:
(a) Economic hardship in the following
circumstances:
(i) A bankruptcy in the
previous year or a waiver submitted under this chapter due to bankruptcy in the
previous year;
(ii) Opening a new
practice after January 1, 2020;
(iii) Operating a low-income clinic, that is
defined as a clinic serving a minimum of thirty percent medicaid patients;
or
(iv) Intent to discontinue
operating in Washington prior to December 31, 2022;
(b) Technological limitations outside the
control of the facility, entity, office, or provider group in the following
circumstance: Integration of electronic health records system with the PMP
through a method approved by the department is in process but has not yet been
completed;
(c) Other exceptional
circumstances include:
(i) Providing services
as a free clinic;
(ii) The internet
speed or bandwidth required to integrate an electronic health record with the
prescription monitoring program through a method approved by the department is
not available;
(iii) The technology
to connect the electronic health record of the entity requesting the waiver to
the prescription monitoring program through a method approved by the department
does not exist;
(iv) Fewer than one
hundred prescriptions for Schedule II-V drugs are generated in a calendar year;
or
(v) Unforeseen circumstances
that stress the practitioner or health care system in such a way that
compliance is not possible. Examples may include, but are not limited to,
natural disasters, widespread health care emergencies, unforeseen barriers to
integration, or unforeseen events that result in a statewide
emergency.
