News & Press

DOH: Credentialing Freeze at the end of March, renew now if you have an upcoming expiration date

Wed, 4 Mar 2026 17:14:00 GMT

Credentialing Freeze at the end of March, renew now if you have an upcoming expiration date

Washington State Department of Health sent this bulletin at 03/03/2026 03:07 PM PST

Credentialing Freeze at the end of March, renew now if you have an upcoming expiration date.

The Washington State Department of Health is excited to announce the final launch of the new licensing system for all health professionals and facilities in Washington on March 24, 2026. The Health Enforcement and Licensing Management System (HELMS) helps create efficiencies, streamline processing, strengthen data access, and reduce paper-based activities. This final launch will integrate enforcement functionality into the system for the first time and add specialty programs.

March Credentialing Freeze

Ahead of the HELMS launch, all licensing and credentialing systems will be unavailable from 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18, until the morning of Tuesday, March 24, 2026. This will allow our team to migrate data, update functionality, and install new tools.

If you or an employee has a license expiring toward the end of March (likely on their birth date), please renew before March 18 to avoid delays: Login - SecureAccess Washington, or License Renewals.

What you need to know:

Renewals will not be processed between March 19-24, 2026. We encourage you to renew your license now, prior to the freeze, if you have a renewal date during the freeze.

Finish draft applications ahead of the freeze. HELMS removes draft applications that have been inactive for 14 days. To ensure your application remains available, log in and view it before March 18, 2026.

No updates will be made to licenses for health professionals and facilities during the freeze. Search tools like Provider Credential Search and Facility Search will still be available, but will not be updated during the freeze.

DOH search tools will be upgraded as a part of this launch. Public access will not be impacted, and your current links will still work.

For more information on the licensing freeze and the new licensing system, please visit DOH.wa.gov/HELMS.

Thank you for your consideration and support during this transition. We look forward to sharing HELMS with you!

Stay Connected

If you have questions or concerns regarding the licensing freeze, please reach out to the HELMS team at HELMS@doh.wa.gov.”

To request this document in another format, call 1-800-525-0127. Deaf or hard of hearing customers, please call 711 (Washington Relay) or
email doh.information@doh.wa.gov

WA HCA Seeks Critical Access Pharmacies

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 20:26:00 GMT

The WSPA is helping the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) to identify Critical Access Pharmacies. Under a future contract with HCA, the Medicaid Managed Care Plans will have to ensure these pharmacies are maintained in their networks to ensure patient access. Critical Access Pharmacies are defined by HCA as those that are at least 25 miles from the next nearest pharmacy, the only pharmacy on an island, or serve a vulnerable population (homeless, marginalized, mentally ill, primarily Native American etc).

If you believe your pharmacy should be considered for inclusion on HCA’s critical access pharmacy list, please respond to this survey by July 15th. For questions regarding this form or process, please contact Jenny Arnold, jenny@wsparx.org.

PQAC Summary: 07/16 Meeting

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 15:43:16 GMT

Regarding Ancillary Utilization Plans and Tech training program applications: If you submit a Tech Training Program application, be sure to update the pharmacy AUP to reflect the additional duties of assistants with the tech in training credential. Also, 8 hours of Washington State law training are required to be part of your training program - WSPA has a great training that fulfills the requirement, so feel free to use our program and state that in the application. Another reminder ~ If you do submit an AUP change or tech training program that needs to be approved by the commission, be sure to check the agenda of upcoming PQAC meetings as they are released and plan to attend so that a member of your organization is available to answer clarifying questions from commissioners. In recent meetings we have seen many submissions be put on hold for approval until the next meeting due to not having someone available to answer simple clarifying questions.

White bagging presentation by ASHP - It is clear that this is a patient safety issue, many commission members were surprised to learn that this is a common practice. It caught the commissioners attention and they plan to work on this issue in the coming months.

The Health Care Authority PMP Rule applicable to all Apple Health patients: Starting October 1st, prescribers, including prescribing pharmacists will need to check the PMP within 10 days prior to writing a prescription for a controlled substance and a dispensing pharmacist will be required to check the PMP within 48 hours of dispensing any controlled substance. WSPA will get more info out to members on the details of this rule once HCA releases more details for pharmacies.

Lauren Lyles-Stolz has submitted her resignation to PQAC, she has been an incredible partner to the association and other stakeholders. We greatly appreciate the work she has done and wish her success in her future endeavors. With that said, the commission will be recruiting for a new Executive Director.

The commission covered an FAQ regarding the new definition of compounding that will show up on their FAQ page soon: Under the legislature’s new compounding law (SHB 1145), should I continue to follow USP <797> requirements when diluting a reconstituted sterile medication, such as Remicade, according to federal food and drug administration approved labeling? Yes, the new compounding law exempts non-sterile and sterile products that only require reconstitution and mixing according to food and drug administration-approved labeling. Further manipulation of a reconstituted product, such as dilution, should be an indicator that compounding is occurring and USP <797> should be followed, per RCW 18.64.270(2). Additionally, under the new pharmacy standard of care rules, the commission expects pharmacists to utilize their professional judgment in the best interest of the patient.

For more information on PQAC meetings, check out the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission webpage.