Temporary Practice Permit Applications for RNs

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The Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission completes the licensing for all nurses in our state, including RNs, LPNs, ARNPs and Nursing Technicians.         

The Nursing Commission is giving top priority to the temporary practice permit applications for nurses to assist with the urgent and critical care needs in King County during this COVID-19 crisis. Nurses may volunteer as an Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners. Complete the Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Application (Word) Applications will be screened to ensure the potential volunteer’s health license is in good standing in each state of licensure. The volunteer’s name will be entered into a database of approved emergency volunteer health practitioners. The Washington State Department of Health will activate approved volunteers as needs arise while an emergency proclamation is in effect. This process allows out of state nurses without a Washington State license to work in Washington for the duration of the emergency.

If your facility is in need of emergency staffing and is planning on hiring nurses from out of state, the nurses may apply and be licensed in Washington. Please send an email to nurselicensing@doh.wa.gov with a list of applicant names. Please indicate the urgency of this request based on one or more of the following criteria:

·         intensity of patient care

·         lack of current staffing to provide patient care

·         staff unable to continue to provide patient care due to illness

·         existing nursing vacancies that are currently unfilled due to the COVID 19 situation

 

Our office will expedite the applications and issue temporary practice permits if the applicants meet all the licensure requirements. Once we receive the application, our office will send a fingerprint card packet. Applicants must complete an FBI criminal background check and submit their fingerprints as soon as possible. The temporary practice permit allows the nurse to practice in Washington while awaiting the results of the criminal background check.

For the application and directions to the online nursing application, please go to https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/6000/669419.pdf

Our office needs a list of nurses from your facility who are applying for positions in King, Snohomish and Pierce Counties to expedite the process.

Thank you.

Paula R. Meyer MSN, RN, FRE

Executive Director

Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission Washington State Department of Health

COVID-19: What does it mean for our work?

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COVID-19: What does it mean for our work?

The BHT team is trying to be mindful of what is happening in our community and not unnecessarily burden our organizational partners during this time. We fully expect that most, if not all, of our Transformation work together will pause as you redirect your resources toward addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.

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BHT COVID-19 Response

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BHT COVID-19 Response

As coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread, for the safety of our staff, as well as our partners and the communities we serve, Better Health Together has decided to implement the recommendation for social distancing. On Monday, March 16, the following protocols will go into effect for BHT…

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Pay-for-Equity Menu Released

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On March 5th, BHT finalized our Pay-for-Equity Menu. Organizations who completed our Equity Assessment now have the opportunity to commit to a Pay-for-Equity item that they will implement in their organization. Committing to an activity earns additional financial assistance from BHT, as well as 8 hours of free Technical Assistance from our Equity TA Bank, made up of consultants who can offer trainings and facilitation to support your equity work. 

Partners will be invited to select an activity via survey in early April. As a reminder for Partnering Providers, this is a requirement in your contract. 

BHT will be updating our website soon to add an Equity page where we can list resources and information about our TA partners – stay tuned for that reveal!

 

Noise Ordinance to Protect Health Care Facilities - Letter of Support

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BHT wrote the Spokane City Council members in support of the changes to the noise ordinance being considered on Monday, March 2, 2020. Please see the letter, copied below.

RE: Proposed Noise Ordinance to Protect Health Care Facilities

Dear City Council Members:

We support the proposed changes before City Council give the City of Spokane greater authority to enforce the City’s noise ordinance and protect health care patients and staff.

As the Accountable Community of Health (ACH) organization responsible for the Medicaid Transformation efforts in Eastern Washington, BHT is charged with implementing efforts to improve the health of our region. For the past five years, we’ve connected, convened, and financially supported health care providers in our region to accomplish this goal.

We strongly believe that reproductive health care is health care. Better Health Together is proud to partner with Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho to improve the health of our Spokane community. In addition to the critical work they do for reproductive health, in the last year Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho has expanded to offer mental health services, a severe shortage in our community, as well as increased primary care services.

City Council member Lori Kinnear’s ordinance to address noise at health care facilities will help protect the health and safety of our community members accessing health care in Spokane. The proposed changes before City Council give the City of Spokane greater authority to enforce the City’s noise ordinance and a private right of action for impacted staff and patients.

Thank you for your consideration,

Alison Poulsen
Executive Director
Better Health Together

Other Collaborative resources

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Technical Assistance Bank for Contracted Partners

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Here you will find the latest news regarding our Technical Assistance Bank for contracted partners. We hope you find value in the Technical Assistance Bank again this year! 

Background

The University of Washington’s Advanced Integrated Mental Health Solutions (AIMS) Center develops, tests, and helps organizations implement collaborative care and bi-directional integration strategies. BHT has partnered with the AIMS Center to offer our network of contracted partners technical assistance related to implementation support, coaching, education, and workforce development throughout 2020. Learn more about the AIMS Center here.
 

Available Technical Assistance

For Primary Care Practices: 

  • Basic or advanced topics around coding/billing for behavioral health in primary care

  • Deep dive into your practice’s financing and billing options/challenges utilizing the AIMS Center Financial Modeling Workbook

  • Hiring Behavioral Health Providers tips and tricks

  • Evidence-based behavioral health interventions for Behavioral Health Clinicians in primary care such as problem solving treatment and behavioral activation

  • How to set up a Behavioral Health Clinicians schedule in primary care that aligns with your program’s overall goals and vision

  • Fine tuning a behavioral health screening workflow and using continuous quality improvement to improve the workflow


For Behavioral Health Agencies: 

  • A deeper dive into current state workflows for physical health screening and identifying opportunities for improvement

  • Helping with decision-making about the most impactful use of limited resources for integration in a given agency

  • Sitting in on team meetings to help build team's skills around discussing client cases and maximizing use of team meetings

  • Coaching on how to effectively build relationships with primary care partners

  • Helping a team determine what physical health measure to track and implement a population health management strategy


If you have a TA need that is not listed above, please reach out and we will do our best to connect you to the appropriate resource. If you have any questions, please reach out to Sarah at sarah@betterhealthtogether.org or Symetria at symetria@betterhealthtogether.org.

 

Making a Request

  1. On the right side of the Learning Cohort webpage you will find a button to “Request Technical Assistance“

  2. Click the button and complete the Technical Assistance Request Form

  3. Once received, BHT will connect you with the AIMS Center

  4. Together we accomplish health system transformation!


Testimonial

The AIMS Center has been very responsive and available to meet with us when needed. We have been meeting 1-2 times a month for several months. The feedback is that the discussions have been very helpful to understand a model for CHAS and inform our BH Associate program definition. We’ve had a couple major changes in BH staff lately, so things have slowed down a bit in using AIMS support. But their expertise in Collaborative Care is unparalleled and much appreciated. They have been flexible and allowed us to learn and consider approaches that are unique to our situation, staffing, and patient situations.
 
Mike Wiser, CHAS
January 2020

IMC Meeting Notes & Materials

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