DOH credits 'Project Pathway' pilot and new HELMS system with speeding health‑care credentialing in Washington

Sasha De Leon, deputy director in the Health Systems Quality Assurance division at the Washington State Department of Health, told Governor Inslee’s June public performance review that a focused pilot called Project Pathway slashed a backlog of complex psychology credentialing cases and helped the department bring timelines closer to its goals.

Project Pathway, which moved subject‑matter experts closer to credentialing staff and instituted daily case huddles, “eliminated that backlog” of about 55 complex psychology applications within three months and produced sustained improvements, De Leon said. The department said renewals are processed in about three days, while more complex initial licenses typically take around 90 days in the best‑case scenarios.

The pilot also produced measurable back‑office changes across behavioral health, De Leon said: applications pending in the behavioral health team dropped by 46% and pending emails declined by 26% after the reorganization. DOH reported it receives as many as 400 applications per day and processes roughly 73,000 applications a year, issuing more than 59,000 credentials annually; the division…