The Board voted to renew the Notifiable Conditions COVID-19 Reporting emergency rule at its public meeting on November 9. Members adopted a second emergency rule to extend the designation COVID-19 as a notifiable condition and require health care providers, health care facilities, laboratories, and local health jurisdictions to report demographic and other essential data for COVID-19 cases in accordance with the CARES Act and subsequent Health and Human Services guidance. The Board directed staff to file a second CR-103E to extend the rule without lapse, effective on November 29, 2020.
Chapter 246-101 WAC Washington’s Notifiable Conditions rule outlines requirements for reporting information that is necessary for public health officials to protect the public's health by tracking communicable diseases and other conditions. The Board adopted an emergency rule which explicitly designates novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as a notifiable condition and requires health care providers, health care facilities, and laboratories to report certain demographic information along with COVID-19 test results.
Staff have made several proposed changes to the draft rule language. The draft rule language aligns with HHS’s guidance and technical specifications. It is different from the rule adopted by the Board in July in the following ways:
- Animal case reporting of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) by the Department of Agriculture have been added to the rule.
- Reporting of disaggregated race and ethnicity data is removed. Entities will be required to report race and ethnicity using categories consistent with the 2020 Census.
- Reporting of patient’s primary language and emergency contact number is removed.
- Reporting the responses to “ask on order entry” questions have been changed to optional reporting instead of required reporting.
- Minor editorial changes for clarity throughout.
The current draft of the emergency rule is intended to reflect what can be reported and collected by Washington’s public health surveillance system at this time while ensuring the regulated community is compliant with federal reporting requirements.
The purpose for drafting the rule was in response to the federal CARES Act and guidance released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Board’s emergency rule became effective on July 31, 2020 and expires on November 28, 2020.
It is important to note that emergency rule is different from the typical rulemaking process. The typical analytical and stakeholder process does not apply to emergency rules. A public hearing will not be held for this emergency rule.
The Department of Health will work to update its systems and provide additional information to health care providers, health care facilities, laboratories, and local health jurisdictions regarding implementation of this emergency rule in the coming weeks. More information is available on the Department's Reporting COVID-19 Test Results.
Please note: This emergency rule is separate from permanent rulemaking activity currently underway for notifiable conditions. For more information on permanent rulemaking activity for Chapter 246-101 WAC, please visit the Notifiable Conditions web page.
