Page 192

upon their discharge from an acute care hospital. The department must 1 prioritize the funding provided in this subsection for such clients 2 in acute care hospitals who are also on the department's wait list 3 for services. 4 (33) $691,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for fiscal 5 year 2024, $658,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for 6 fiscal year 2025, and $1,347,000 of the general fund—federal 7 appropriation are provided solely for the department to provide staff 8 support to the difficult to discharge task force described in section 9 135(12) of this act, including any associated ad hoc subgroups, and 10 to develop home and community services assessment timeliness 11 requirements for pilot participants in cooperation with the health 12 care authority as described in section 211(65) of this act. 13 (34) $125,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for fiscal 14 year 2024 and $125,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for 15 fiscal year 2025 are provided solely for a study of functional 16 assessments conducted by the department prior to acute care hospital 17 discharge and placement in a post-acute facility. No later than June 18 30, 2025, a report must be submitted to the governor and the 19 appropriate committees of the legislature that evaluates: 20 (a) The timeliness of the completion of these assessments; 21 (b) How requiring these assessments impacts: 22 (i) The length of a patient's hospital stay; 23 (ii) The patient's medical, emotional, and mental well-being; 24 (iii) The hospital staff who care for these patients; and 25 (iv) Access to inpatient and emergency beds for other patients; 26 (c) Best practices from other states for placing hospitalized 27 patients in post-acute care settings in a timely and effective manner 28 that includes: 29 (i) Identification of the states that require these assessments 30 prior to post-acute placement; and 31 (ii) An analysis of a patient's hospital length of stay and a 32 patient's medical, emotional, and mental well-being in states that 33 require these assessments compared to the states that do not; and 34 (d) The potential benefits of, and barriers to, outsourcing some 35 or all of the functional assessment process to hospitals. Barriers 36 evaluated must include department policies regarding staff workloads, 37 outsourcing work, and computer system access. 38 p. 191 ESSB 5187.SL