This bill amends RCW 18.84.020 and adds a new, unnumbered section to chapter 18.84 RCW to revise and add definitions and to change supervision requirements for radiologic procedures. It is a regulatory and procedural change to existing law, not a criminal or penalty change. The bill defines "general supervision" for intravenous contrast procedures to mean overall direction and control by a licensed physician (not required to be physically present), requires a licensed practitioner trained to respond to adverse events to be on-site, and permits real-time audio/visual remote supervision if federal and state laws and local/institutional policies are followed and the supervising physician is on-call or otherwise available to respond. The bill also clarifies that parenteral procedures related to radiologic technology generally continue to require direct physician supervision, but explicitly allows intravenous contrast procedures to be performed under general supervision. It adds or updates definitions for approved schools and programs, radiologic technologist categories (diagnostic, therapeutic, MRI, nuclear medicine), radiologist assistant, cardiovascular invasive specialist, and related terms, and gives the Secretary of Health rulemaking authority over radiologist assistant duties and levels of supervision. Affected entities include the Washington State Department of Health, the Secretary of Health, physicians licensed under chapters 18.71, 18.57, and 18.75 RCW, various categories of radiologic technologists and assistants, approved schools and affiliated hospitals, licensed health care practitioners working within their scopes, and facilities with telemedicine or supervision policies. The bill text provided does not show the new section's placement or numbering within chapter 18.84, does not include the rest of chapter 18.84 for context, does not specify the rules the secretary will adopt, and does not identify the specific federal/state laws or local policies referenced; no effective date or implementation deadlines are included in the extracted text.

If enacted, the bill would let hospitals and imaging centers rely more on radiologic technologists and other licensed practitioners to administer intravenous contrast without a physician physically in the room, as long as a staff member trained to handle adverse events is on-site and a supervising physician is available in person or by real-time audio/visual telemedicine. Practically, that can make scheduling easier and cut the need for a physician to be physically present (potentially lowering staffing costs), but facilities will need to invest in staff training for emergency response, update local policies to meet federal and state telemedicine rules, and ensure physicians remain on-call or reachable. The groups most affected are physicians who may take on more remote on-call duties, radiologic technologists and radiologist assistants who gain clearer authority to perform certain contrast injections, and health care facilities that must change supervision policies and possibly telemedicine infrastructure. The bill leaves several implementation details to the Secretary of Health’s rules and to existing federal/state telemedicine laws, so the exact scope of advanced duties and how sites must comply is uncertain.