Members of the Washington House Health Care Committee heard an overview from the Washington State Department of Health on the agency’s role, priorities and recent initiatives, including expanded respiratory-illness surveillance, work on the opioid crisis and strengthened tribal partnerships.

Dr. Thao Kwan Get, chief science officer for the Washington Department of Health, told the committee that public health “is what we as a society do collectively, to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy,” and described a population-health approach that ranges from sanitation and vaccines to policies that address social drivers of health.

The department emphasized its data capabilities developed during the COVID-19 response: the respiratory-illness dashboard tracks deaths, hospitalizations and emergency-department visits for COVID-19, influenza and RSV, and is used to inform local public-health actions. Dr. Thao Kwan Get noted the department was monitoring recent upticks in COVID-19 activity and continued influenza and RSV hospitalizations, and said 18 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the third week of December (as shown on the dashboard).

Kristen Peterson, chief of policy, planning and evaluation at the Department of Health, outlined program priorities that span newborn screening, maternal and child health, behavioral health workforce improvements and Certificate of Need review. Peterson described initiatives to expand behavioral-health licensing pathways (implementing House Bill 1724 and HB 2247), modernize licensing systems with a new HELMS platform, and adopt rules for 23-hour stabilization centers and 988 crisis hubs.

Both officials highlighted the department’s opioid-response work. Dr. Thao Kwan Get said Washington’s overdose rate has continued to rise even as national rates plateau, noting the state’s pattern has lagged earlier changes on the East Coast. He described three priorities: expanding access to medications for opioid-use disorder (MOUD) such as buprenorphine and methadone, distributing naloxone broadly (including a standing order for pharmacy access), and improving local overdose data. The department has piloted EMS-administered buprenorphine in several counties and is promoting take-home naloxone and linkages from emergency departments into long-term treatment.

Peterson described a new Centers of Excellence designation for hospitals that adopt perinatal substance-use best practices and the department’s work operating the state prescription-monitoring program and safe medication return program. She said the department recently completed tribal consultation on a tribal data-sharing agreement that recognizes tribal data sovereignty.

During questions, Representative Caldier asked how the department will regain public trust after pandemic-era communications. Dr. Thao Kwan Get said the department plans to focus on “those issues that people really care about” and to communicate with more humility about uncertainty in the science. Representative Davis asked for more detail about the perinatal Centers of Excellence; Peterson said the designation recognizes hospitals that adopt community- and data-informed best practices and offered to follow up with specifics.

Representative Mangeros asked how buprenorphine and methadone work; Dr. Thao Kwan Get explained both reduce painful withdrawal symptoms and cravings, and noted buprenorphine’s advantage that it can be prescribed by clinicians and, in pilot programs, administered by EMS. On involuntary treatment, the department said it would review the evidence and follow up.

Committee members also pressed for information on the EMS pilot’s sunset and expansion capacity; Peterson said staff would follow up with those details. Representatives asked about environmental and climate-health work; officials pointed to an environmental-health portfolio that includes air-quality and seasonal-hazards dashboards.

The department provided numeric context for its annual work: roughly 3,000 staff, 166,189 water samples evaluated, more than 65,000 birth certificates issued and more than 10,000 death certificates issued in a typical year. Officials emphasized continued collaboration with the Health Care Authority, Department of Agriculture and tribal nations on cross-sector responses.

The presentation closed with an offer to provide additional, written follow-up on the perinatal designation criteria and EMS pilot details.

Ending: Committee members thanked the department; no formal action was taken at the hearing.