This bill creates a new chapter in Title 70 RCW establishing an annual health care entity reporting requirement and a public registry maintained by the Department of Health. Each covered health care entity must annually submit identifying, ownership, governance, and financial information beginning June 30, 2027, and the department must provide an interactive public search tool with prior-year data by January 1, 2028, updated at least annually. Reported information is public except for an individual health care provider’s taxpayer identification number that is also a Social Security number, which must be kept confidential. The bill defines covered entities broadly (providers, facilities, provider organizations, health care benefit managers, carriers, management services organizations, and relevant owners or investors) and specifies required reporting items such as legal and practice addresses, ownership and management relationships, organizational charts, governing board members and compensation, comprehensive financial reports as determined by the department, and provider and facility license details. It authorizes the department to audit or inspect records when reports are incomplete or suspect, to share data with other state agencies, to adopt implementing rules and fees, and to merge similar reporting requirements. The act creates civil penalties for missing or false reports: up to $50,000 per report for small independent providers/provider organizations (10 or fewer physicians or under $10 million annual revenue) and up to $500,000 per report for other entities; recovered penalties fund implementation costs. Exemptions include independent provider organizations with two or fewer providers and provider organizations owned or controlled by a reporting entity when the controlling entity reports on their behalf. This is a new statutory reporting and registry requirement with procedural changes (reporting format, public disclosure, audits, rulemaking) and new civil penalties for noncompliance. Important details are not included here: the specific definitions found in the cited RCWs (70.02.010, 48.43.005, 48.200.020), the department’s rules specifying the form, manner, and content of “comprehensive financial reports,” any adopted fee amounts, and the procedures for assessing, appealing, collecting, or enforcing civil penalties; interactions with federal reporting or privacy laws are also not addressed in the provided text.

If enacted, health care companies and organizations in Washington will have to gather and send detailed ownership, governance, location, provider, and financial information to the Department of Health every year starting June 30, 2027, and that information (except a provider’s SSN when it doubles as a tax ID) will be made publicly searchable through a DOH tool by January 1, 2028. The department can audit reports, share data with other state agencies, refer noncompliance to the Attorney General, charge civil penalties (up to $50,000 per report for small independent providers or $500,000 per report for other entities), and use recovered penalties to cover the program’s costs. The most affected parties are health care entities (providers, facilities, provider organizations, carriers, health care benefit managers), their owners and investors (including private equity and management services organizations), and governing boards, which will likely face increased administrative work, potential costs to assemble comprehensive financial and ownership disclosures, and higher reputational and legal risk from public exposure and possible fines. Small independent provider groups with two or fewer providers are exempt, and entities controlled by a reporting parent may be covered by that parent’s submission. Key details that will influence real-world effects—such as the exact statutory definitions referenced, the required financial report content, the department’s chosen report format and fees, and penalty enforcement procedures—are not provided here and will materially affect compliance burden and costs.