State health leaders outline priorities, say licensure backlog cut to six weeks

Denis Worsham, Secretary of the Washington State Department of Health, and Ryan Moran, director of the Health Care Authority, told the Joint Select Committee on Healthcare and Behavioral Health Oversight on Nov. 5 that their offices will focus on strengthening governmental public health, improving care quality and maintaining access and affordability across the state.

Worsham said he began a 100‑day listening tour after his July appointment and that the department is focusing on four areas: a stronger governmental public health system (state, local and tribal public health and the State Board of Health), patient safety and provider quality, affordability and access, and agency operations. "We have brought that number down to 6 weeks and continuing to work on that... our backlog will be caught up by January 1," Worsham said when asked about licensing delays for health professionals. He said the department is adding staff and dashboards to reduce processing times.

Moran said the Health Care Authority is organizing work around three pillars: responsiveness to Washingtonians’ needs; closing health disparities (with emphasis on behavioral health, maternal and child health, primary care and rural transformation); and improving agency operations and workforce. He said the authority will emphasize oversight of large state contracts — including managed‑care organizations and state employee plans — while working to preserve coverage and stability for providers as federal changes take effect.

Committee members pressed agency officials on provisional licensing and whether additional professions should receive temporary authorization while credentialing is pending. Worsham said executive‑office process‑improvement work is underway, a new assistant secretary will oversee Health Systems Quality Assurance (HSQA) and the department will recommend timeline targets by profession.

The officials also said they are coordinating across agencies (Health Care Authority, Department of Social and Health Services and the governor’s office) to prepare for federal eligibility changes and that tribal consultation will be central to implementation planning. No formal committee actions were taken at the meeting.

This briefing previewed areas the agencies said they will bring to the legislature during the session, including funding and operational requests to support faster licensure processing and continuity of services in rural communities.