This bill amends existing workers' compensation statutes (RCW 51.08.200, 51.28.010, 51.28.020, and 51.36.010) to change provider choice rules and create a department-managed health care provider network. It explicitly includes additional provider types (notably physical and occupational therapists among listed attending providers), requires the department to establish minimum provider standards, convene an advisory group, and create network contracts, a certified "second tier" of providers, and certified centers for occupational health and education. Network providers must follow department evidence-based coverage decisions and treatment guidelines, and the department may certify/decertify providers, develop financial and nonfinancial incentives, and remove providers for patterns of low-quality care with procedural protections and assistance for affected injured workers. The bill makes multiple procedural changes: employers are prohibited from "claim suppression" with the department bearing the burden to prove it by a preponderance of the evidence and required to adopt rules defining bona fide safety programs and first aid; the department must promptly notify injured workers and employers of claim filings and of provider-choice rights; applications for compensation must include an attending provider certificate and notice of provider choice; attending providers must inform workers of rights and help with claims without charge; and the department will set payment and utilization rules (including payment for initial prescription drugs on state fund claims, limits on treatment duration with supervisor authorization to continue care, and possible reimbursement limits for nonnetwork initial visits). Network contracts auto-renew unless written notice is given, and the department may adopt rules to implement these changes. The act includes temporal provisions: it was prefiled 01/02/26 and read first time 01/12/26; Sections 2, 4, and 6 of the act expire June 30, 2027, and Sections 3, 5, and 7 take effect June 30, 2027. Important context is missing from the extracted text: the specific agency name referred to as "the department" is not identified here, several portions of RCW 51.36.010 are truncated, duplicate amendments with slightly different wording are unexplained, and numerical thresholds, detailed criteria for credentialing/peer review, advisory group composition, and some operative language are not included in the provided extracts.

If enacted, injured workers would clearly gain the right to seek care from a wider set of attending providers (including occupational and physical therapists) and would receive immediate, plain-language notices about that choice. The state agency named in the bill would build a credentialed provider network, create a “second tier” of high-performing providers and certify centers for occupational health; once a network exists where a worker lives, care from nonnetwork providers would generally be limited to an initial visit, initial prescription drugs for state-funded claims would be paid per the department fee schedule regardless of claim allowance, and providers would have to apply, accept contract terms, follow evidence-based guidelines, and face removal for persistent low-quality care while the department must help patients transfer care if a provider is terminated. Providers and health systems will likely face new costs and administrative duties for credentialing, compliance with billing and quality rules, and potential remediation or loss of network status, though they may also gain access to financial and nonfinancial incentives if they qualify for the second tier or certified centers. Employers face stricter limits on “claim suppression” and greater scrutiny of their compliance history, and self-insured employers must participate in utilization review and may be able to limit reimbursement for nonnetwork care; the state agency will need to adopt detailed rules, but several important details (the agency’s formal name, exact credentialing thresholds, fee amounts, and parts of the text that were cut off) are missing from these extracts, and some sections are set to expire or take effect on June 30, 2027.