Senate Health and Welfare Committee confirms director, approves broad package of Health and Welfare rule changes

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee sent Governor-appointed Department of Health and Welfare Director Alex Adams’ nomination to the full Senate with a recommendation for confirmation and approved a suite of administrative rule changes affecting hospitals, child welfare and foster care, and emergency medical services.

The committee moved quickly through the agenda on Oct. 24 during a meeting led by the committee chair. Committee members approved a temporary hospital rules docket that keeps previously enacted temporary rules in effect through July 1; a series of temporary and consolidated rule dockets for Children and Family Services that include changes to foster care licensing, contested-case procedures for the Child Protection Central Registry, elimination of adoption fees for children in state custody, and new supervised-visit requirements for parents substantiated for serious abuse; and consolidated EMS chapters that reduce continuing-education requirements to align with neighboring states.

Committee members and department staff said the rule changes are intended to reduce duplicative regulation, align state rules with federal standards where appropriate, and expand flexibility for child placements. Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief for the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee, “My name is Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief of the Department of Health and Welfare,” and said the hospital docket largely preserves existing temporary rules that the legislature approved previously and keeps them in effect pending the specified date. Larson said the hospital licensing changes will allow hospitals already certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…