Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5847 amends and adds provisions in the industrial insurance and workers’ compensation statutes to create and govern a department-run health care provider network, establish certified centers for occupational health and education, define “attending provider,” and create a second tier of network providers who meet additional occupational health best-practice standards. The bill amends RCW 51.36.010 and RCW 51.08.200, adds a new section to chapter 51.44 RCW, and amends RCW 43.88.180. These are regulatory and procedural changes establishing credentialing, accreditation, quality benchmarks, electronic tracking of quality measures, advisory-group oversight, financial and nonfinancial incentives, and rules for certifying and decertifying network providers and centers. The bill imposes procedural limits on use of nonnetwork providers (care from nonnetwork providers allowed only for an initial office or emergency visit once the network is established in a worker’s geographic area, with limited reimbursement rules), makes a department provider application the force of a contract that automatically renews absent written notice, and creates utilization review deadlines (recommendations due within 10 business days after receipt of required information or treatment must be authorized). For state fund claims the department must pay for initial prescription drugs related to an initial visit regardless of whether the claim is allowed. The supervisor of industrial insurance (or designee or a self‑insurer) may authorize continued treatment beyond general duration limits by written order but may exclude certain controlled substances scheduled under chapter 69.50 RCW; the supervisor also may authorize inoculation for probable occupational exposures. The bill authorizes removal of providers for patterns of low-quality care and requires assistance to injured workers if a provider is terminated. The act also authorizes the department to hire additional claims managers to reach a recommended average caseload (the bill cites a 141-claims-per-manager benchmark), requires recurring study of national caseload averages beginning July 1, 2031, and imposes reporting requirements (quarterly reports beginning December 1, 2026; a report to legislative committees by June 30, 2029; and a JLARC review by December 31, 2032). It establishes that funds for hiring claims managers are subject to allotment and do not require separate appropriation. The bill creates administrative penalties for employer coercion of injured workers to use specific providers: violations by state-insured employers may be penalized $250–$2,500 per violation payable to the supplemental pension fund, and violations by self-insured employers are addressed under other RCWs cited. Some statutory cross-references and subsections cited in the provided material are incomplete or missing here: the identity of “the department” is not specified in these extracts, certain exceptions and subsection details (for example, the specific conditions in RCW 51.36.010(2)(g)(i)(A) and (B)) are not included, and portions of the text about centers and treatment-duration limits are cut off. Effective and expiration dates are provided for several sections (for example, Section 2 effective January 1, 2028; Section 3 expires June 30, 2027; Section 4 effective June 30, 2027, expires January 1, 2028; Section 5 effective January 1, 2028), and the act is stated to apply to all claims regardless of date of injury or manifestation.

If enacted, the bill requires the (unnamed) department to build and oversee a statewide network of approved workers’ compensation providers, certify separate “centers for occupational health and education,” and create a second-tier of network providers who meet higher occupational-health benchmarks. Injured workers will generally be steered to network providers (nonnetwork care limited to an initial office or ER visit unless specific exceptions apply), employers must inform workers of provider choice and cannot coerce them, and the department must pay for initial prescription drugs tied to an initial visit regardless of claim allowance. Health care organizations and individual providers will face new credentialing, quality tracking, incentive, and removal rules; the department can certify/decertify providers, require remedial steps, and must help patients find new care if a provider is removed. The department and self-insurers will have new administrative duties—setting standards, running the network, certifying centers, implementing utilization review with strict timelines, and hiring more claims managers to lower caseloads (target 141 per manager and later alignment with national averages), with funding for those hires allotted rather than requiring new appropriation. Providers may incur costs to meet credentialing, quality benchmarks, and electronic tracking requirements and face the risk of removal for patterns of poor care; state employers risk fines for coercion. Several implementation details are unclear from the provided text, including the department’s formal identity, some cross-referenced exceptions and treatment-duration rules, and precise timelines or numeric criteria for credentialing and penalties.