Senate committee hears bill to create Healthcare Coordination Council for confined individuals

Senate Bill 5031, as presented to the Senate Human Services Committee, would create a Healthcare Coordination Council within the Washington State Department of Health to improve communication and coordination of health services for people in state and local confinement.

Committee staff counsel Will Tronson summarized the substitute bill and said the council would include agency representatives, federally recognized tribes, the governor’s appointees and people with lived experience “using the healthcare system in an institution of total confinement.” The bill requires quarterly meetings, compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act and annual reporting to the governor and relevant legislative committees beginning Nov. 1, 2025.

Sponsor Sen. Claire Wilson said the proposal would make permanent work begun under an HCA 1115 waiver reentry work group and address long-standing, siloed operations that duplicate effort and reduce efficiency across agencies. “We need to continue to focus that communication and coordination between and among our state and local agencies,” she told the committee.

Correctional physician Mark Stern, who said he has worked as an informal interagency liaison, testified the council would formalize work already being done and offered to serve without compensation for a biennium to reduce near-term costs. “This is the kind of work that Dr. Strick and I have been doing informally for the last several years,” Stern said.

Patrick Stickney of the Washington State Office of Equity described technical supports the office can provide, including a community engagement toolkit and guidance on community compensation. He noted the bill requires community compensation “in line with RCW 4303220,” and said the office has updated guidelines that could help agencies implement that requirement.

Local law-enforcement and jail stakeholders — represented in testimony by James McMahon of the Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and Brad Banks of the Association of Counties — expressed support for coordination while asking for representation and implementation details. McMahon urged better electronic medical records interoperability and asked for more representation of local jails on the council.

The committee did not take a vote at the hearing. Staff indicated a fiscal note had been requested on Dec. 23, 2024 and had not yet been received.

The bill remains in committee for further work and technical amendments; sponsors and multiple testifiers said they would continue to refine membership, funding and implementation details.