(1) Upon receipt of guidance for the creation of common regional service areas from the adult behavioral health system task force established in section 1, chapter 338, Laws of 2013, the authority shall establish regional service areas as provided in this section.

(2) Counties, through the Washington state association of counties, must be given the opportunity to propose the composition of regional service areas. Each service area must:

(a) Include a sufficient number of medicaid lives to support full financial risk managed care contracting for services included in contracts with the department or the authority;

(b) Include full counties that are contiguous with one another; and

(c) Reflect natural medical and behavioral health service referral patterns and shared clinical, health care service, behavioral health service, and behavioral health crisis response resources.

(3) The Washington state association of counties must submit their recommendations to the department, the authority, and the task force described in section 1, chapter 225, Laws of 2014 on or before August 1, 2014.

Findings—Intent—Effective date—2018 c 201: See notes following RCW 41.05.018.