(1) By August 1, 2008, the superintendent of public instruction shall solicit and select up to six school districts to implement, on a pilot project basis, this section. The selected school districts shall include districts from urban and rural areas, and eastern and western Washington.
(2) Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, as part of a public school's enrollment process, each school participating as a pilot project shall annually inquire whether a student has health insurance. The school shall include in the inquiry a statement explaining that an outreach worker may contact families with uninsured students about options for health care coverage. The inquiry shall make provision for the parent or guardian to authorize the sharing of information for this purpose, consistent with state and federal confidentiality requirements.
(3) The school shall record each student's health insurance status in the district's student information system.
(4) By December 1, 2008, from the district's student information system, the pilot school shall develop a list of students without insurance for whom parent authorization to share information was granted. To the extent such information is available, the list shall include:
(a) Identifiers, including each student's full name and date of birth; and
(b) Parent or guardian contact information, including telephone number, email address, and street address.
(5) By September 1, 2008, the department and superintendent shall develop and make available a model agreement to enable schools to share student information in compliance with state and federal confidentiality requirements.
(6) By January 1, 2009, each participating pilot school and a local outreach organization, where available, shall work to put in place an agreement to share student information in accordance with state and federal confidentiality requirements. Once an agreement is in place, the school shall share the list described in subsection (4) of this section with the outreach organization.
(7) The outreach organization shall use the information on the list to contact families and assist them to enroll students on a medical program, in accordance with chapter 74.09 RCW.
(8) By July 1, 2009, pilot schools shall report to the superintendent of public instruction:
(a) The number of students identified without health insurance under subsection (2) of this section; and
(b) Whether an agreement as described under subsection (6) of this section is in place.
(9) By December 1, 2009, the department and the superintendent shall submit a joint report to the legislature that provides:
(a) Summary information on the number of students identified without insurance;
(b) The number of schools with agreements with outreach organizations and the number without such agreements;
(c) The cost of collecting and reporting data;
(d) The impact of such outreach efforts they can quantify; and
(e) Any recommendations for changes that would improve the efficiency or effectiveness of outreach efforts described in this section.
(10) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(a) "Department" means the department of social and health services.
(b) "Superintendent" means the superintendent of public instruction.
(c) "Outreach organization" means a nonprofit organization or a local government entity either contracting with the department pursuant to chapter 74.09 RCW, or otherwise qualified to provide outreach, education, and enrollment services to uninsured children.
[ 2008 c 302 § 1.]