Relating to death records maintained by the vital statistics unit of the Department of State Health Services and provided to certain hospitals.

Contracts

• State Agreements: Hospitals must execute Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs) with DSHS. Legal teams must prepare for non-negotiable state terms regarding data security and indemnification.
• Vendor Amendments: Review Master Services Agreements (MSAs) and Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) vendors. You must explicitly authorize them to ingest and process this specific state vital statistics feed.

Hiring/Training

• IT Integration: IT departments must configure interfaces to receive data via the State Health Analytics and Reporting Platform (SHARP).
• RCM Training: Billing staff require training on the new "Deceased Patient" flag workflow. They must verify data matches before halting billing to avoid false positives that could disrupt legitimate care or claims.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• Audit Trails: You must maintain logs of all personnel who access the DSHS death record feed. The Fiscal Note confirms DSHS is hiring compliance analysts specifically to enforce these agreements.
• Match Logic Documentation: Document the algorithm used to match DSHS data (Name, DOB, County) to internal Medical Record Numbers. Since Social Security Numbers are not statutorily required in the feed, your matching logic must be defensible against audits.

Fees & Costs

• Internal IT Costs: Budget for internal IT hours to build the SHARP API integration.
• Potential State Fees: While the Fiscal Note covers DSHS's setup costs, the statute does not explicitly prohibit DSHS from assessing administrative fees on hospitals for ongoing data access.