You're invited! Please join us for: Mending Health Care with Community Friday, September 25, 2026 Hybrid (In-Person in Seattle, WA + Virtual Option) Join Northwest Health Law Advocates (NoHLA) in Seattle this fall for Mending Health Care with Community, a statewide gathering for professionals, students, advocates, and community partners who interact with health care law,...
Category: News
DOJ Opinion and the Rights of People with Disabilities
by Vanessa R. Saavedra, NoHLA Senior Attorney The average American is not, nor should they have to be, prepared to fight every day of their life for basic civil rights. All too many incidences of discrimination have gone by, undefended, because of lack of protection under the law. - Judy Heumann, “the mother” of the...
Reflections on Leadership and Juneteenth
by Daphne Smith, NoHLA Co-Executive Director (featured furthest left in photo celebrating the 2026 Tubman Health Center soil turning ceremony in Rainier Beach, Seattle, WA) Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over. - Fannie Lou HamerSuccess is to be measured not so much by the position...
Seattle uses AI to help triage, divert 911 medical calls, The Seattle Times
From The Seattle Times article, "Seattle uses AI to help triage, divert 911 medical calls," by Daniel Beekman: SFD started using live AI prompts in December 2023 to help dispatchers more consistently identify 911 calls to divert to the nurse line, Lombard said. Corti's AI now listens to all 911 medical calls and, when it...
Equity Is More Than a Value, It’s a Responsibility
by Daphne Smith, NoHLA Co-Executive Director and Excelsior Wellness Board Member Originally written for Excelsior Wellness and cross-posted here with permission from the author. A few years ago in Spokane, hospitals and urgent care centers seemed to appear almost overnight. Many were placed in central, highly trafficked areas — often near one another and their...
Charity Care Tested in Court. Again.
by Vanessa R. Saavedra, NoHLA Senior Attorney When it comes to Washington's charity care laws, NoHLA has been advocating for consumer access and protections since 1989. We recently joined Columbia Legal Services and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility in filing an amicus brief (also known as a friend-of-the-court brief) in the case of Preston v....
Improving Access to Medicare Savings Programs
by Ann Vining, NoHLA Senior Attorney Medicare is health coverage, but having it does not mean a person can afford the care they need. Medicare is expensive. And it's hard to get help with those costs. But, in case you missed it, there's some good news. Washington finally has a way to improve access to...