A “Thank You” to Dorothy Teeter
Since the Alliance’s founding in 2004, we have been fortunate to partner with members and supporters across the state of Washington who are committed to improving the health care system through collaboration and innovation.
One of our longest-standing supporters has been Board member Dorothy Teeter, who has provided valuable counsel to the Alliance throughout its history. Dorothy was one of our earliest supporters, serving as an inaugural member of our Board as a representative for King County. After two years in Washington, D.C., as a senior policy advisor at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Dorothy returned to our state as Director of the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA). In that capacity she has worked tirelessly to promote a value-based health care system in Washington. The Alliance has been fortunate to be able to partner on that effort via the Healthier Washington initiative.
In April, Dorothy announced that she would be stepping down from her position at the HCA on June 30, and I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the Alliance’s partnership with the HCA and thank Dorothy for her leadership and collaboration.
The Alliance and Healthier Washington share a vision for our future. We strive to support providers and delivery systems in Washington state to be among the top ten percent in performance nationally in the delivery of high-quality, high-value health care. To help achieve this bold vision, the HCA commissioned the Alliance to lead the work on the Washington State Common Measure Set for Health Care Quality and Cost, which has aligned measurement efforts across a wide variety of organizations, sending a common message about performance accountability and creating the basis for purchasing health care based on better value.
Dorothy has led the Healthier Washington initiative since its inception. The State, through Healthier Washington, is leading the way toward value-based purchasing with the steps they took in January 2016 to incorporate performance measures from the Common Measure Set into contracts with health plans and provider organizations for a subset of its insured population.
A major part of this effort is knowing where there’s room for improvement and where there are successes to be shared. That’s why the Community Checkup plays an important role in advancing the work of Healthier Washington. Performance measurement and reporting, as well as leveraging actionable data and evidence-based recommendations, are essential tools to help us reach our shared goal of Washington being in the top ten percent of performance nationally.
I have also had the privilege of working with Dorothy and other partners to lead workshops on value-based purchasing and using shared decision making tools. Her experience, her passion, and her commitment to improving the health system have always been personally inspiring to me.
The Alliance is grateful to have many great partners from a variety of backgrounds across the state, working together toward a common goal. The accomplishments that have been achieved are a testament to the power of collaboration that we are fortunate to have in Washington.
One of the Alliance’s key beliefs is that by collaborating, we can accomplish far more than any single entity can accomplish alone. Thank you to Dorothy and to all of our partners for your ongoing support of the Alliance and helping move the market to value.