HB 1881: Health care marketplace

Summary

• Requires filing of notice at least 90 days before a qualifying material change transaction among health care market participants, extends material change transactions to cover additional parties, and requires notices to include additional information.
• Requires the Attorney General to determine whether a specific transaction is a material change transaction, grant or deny applications for emergency notice and review, determine if a notice filing is complete, and publish notice information.
• Prohibits material change transactions that would detrimentally affect accessible, affordable health care in Washington for at least five years, and requires material change transactions to result in affected communities having the same or greater access to quality affordable care, including emergency care, primary care, specialty care, behavioral health care, reproductive health care, gender-affirming care, end-of-life care, and essential health benefit categories.
• Requires the Health Care Authority, for certain material change transactions, to review notice information; hold at least one public hearing; conduct an Access, Affordability, Quality, and Equity Review; and issue a report and recommendation to the Attorney General.
• Requires the Attorney General, for certain material change transactions, to approve, approve with conditions or modifications, or reject the transaction, subject to judicial review; monitor compliance once a transaction is complete; and investigate post-transaction violations and issue orders to bring parties or successors into compliance.
• Allows parties to designate certain documents as confidential, requires parties to provide redacted and non-redacted versions of such documents, and requires the Health Care Authority and Attorney General to maintain confidential documents as confidential.

From the House Bill Analysis 2025 (HB 1881), written by the Legislature's nonpartisan staff. Read the full report ↗