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Our committees represent the major stakeholder groups in Washington’s health care system. They work with Washington Health Alliance staff to help steer the shift toward value-based purchasing in Washington.

Quality Improvement Committee (QIC)

The QIC is made up of about two dozen clinician leaders from major medical groups, hospitals and health plans from around the state. The QIC meets bi-monthly and oversees the Alliance’s quality reporting, including clinical and patient experience measures. Beginning with the first report, the QIC has been front and center in selecting the quality measures included in the Community Checkup and developing the reporting methods used by the Alliance (e.g., provider attribution methods, as well as methods to ensure statistical reliability of results and thresholds for public reporting). Having clinician leaders lead this process through countless discussions and meetings over the years has been key in building provider support and trust in the public reporting conducted by the Alliance.

Name Title Organization
Mary Anderson, MD Chief Clinical Integration and Quality Officer The Polyclinic/Physician Care Alliance/Physicians Care Network
Caryn Avery, MD Program Chief for Pediatrics Kaiser Permanente Washington
Edwin Carmack, MD Quality Medical Director Confluence Health
Kavita Chawla, MD Chair, EBM Education Committee Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
Francis Gough, MD Chief Medical Officer Molina Healthcare
Kim Herner, MD Chief Quality Officer UW/Valley Medical Center
Richard Hourigan, MD (Vice Chair) Market Medical Executive, Pacific Northwest Cigna
Steven Jacobson, MD (Chair) Medical Director, Government Programs Premera Blue Cross
Matthew Jaffy, MD Associate Medical Director University of Washington Medicine Neighborhood Clinics
Cat Mazzawa Senior Director, Safety and Quality Washington State Hospital Association
Andrew Oliveira, MD Executive Medical Director Regence BlueShield
Komal Patil-Sisodia, MD Ambulatory Quality Officer EvergreenHealth
Wayne Rawlins, MD Chief Medical Officer WellSpark Health
Jeanne Robinson, MD Quality Vice President Northwest Permanente
Nicole Saint Clair, MD Executive Medical Director Regence BlueShield
Michael Shannon, MD Physician Executive and Chief Medical Officer PSW
Pamela Sheffield, MD Medical Director Aetna
Paul Sherman, MD Chief Medical Officer Community Health Plan of Washington
Hugh Straley, MD Chair Dr. Robert Bree Collabortive
John Vassall, MD Clinical Associate Professor Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Judy Zerzan, MD Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Quality and Care Transformation Washington State Health Care Authority

Consumer Education Committee (CEC)

The purpose of the CEC is to develop strategies to empower individuals to more actively manage their health and health care through consumer education initiatives; to help implement consumer-related strategies that position the Alliance and the state as a leader in best practices in consumer education; and to provide expertise and advice to the Board on promoting patient-centered and culturally competent health care while educating consumers, improving patient-provider communication and addressing disparities in care.

Name Title Organization
Vandna Chaudhari (Chair) Administrator, Population Health Management and Clinical Assistant Professor, Health Services University of Washington Medicine
Sondra Earley Peace of Mind Manager Collective Innovative Solutions, LLC
Michael B Garrett Consumer
Michelle George Communications Manager Washington State Health Care Authority
Sarah Greene Strategy Consultant and Advisor
Nancy Kokenge Area Vice President Client Consultant Arthur J. Gallagher & Company Benefit Services
Milana McLead Senior Director, Strategic Communications and Growth Washington State Medical Association
Matt Munson Education Consultant II King County
Sherry Reynolds Director Center 4 Health Innovation
Phyllis Smith Quality and Safety Program Manager Washington State Nurses Association
Dayna Weatherly-Wilson Manager Value Based Healthcare Proliance Surgeons, Inc. P.S.

Purchaser Affinity Group (PAG)

The Purchaser Affinity Group (PAG) was formed to give employers and union trusts the opportunity to meet regularly to discuss value-based benefit design, value-based purchasing and other ways to reduce the medical cost trend. All purchaser members of the Alliance are encouraged to attend the PAG’s bi-monthly meetings. Among the group’s areas of interest are: sharing best practices regarding communication and engagement of consumers about their health decisions; learning about value-based purchasing and benefit design; working together to give a consistent message to health plans regarding expectations for network adequacy, payment and contracting to drive value and improving quality and member experience in the market. Every two years the PAG also sponsors eValue8™, a nationally developed tool and process used to evaluate the performance of commercial health plans.

 

The Purchaser Affinity Group is open to all purchaser members of the Washington Health Alliance.

Health Economics Committee (HEC)

The HEC meets bi-monthly, includes about two dozen members, and is a multi-stakeholder group with representatives from provider organizations, purchasers, brokers, health plans, researchers, consumers and Milliman. This committee led the initial effort to select a data vendor for the Alliance, managing the RFP process that led to the selection of Milliman. The focus of the HEC is on improving transparency of utilization and price variation to reduce unwarranted variation and the overall cost trend.

Name Title Organization
David DiGiuseppe Vice President, Healthcare Economics Community Health Plan of Washington
Jerome Dugan Professor of Health Services University of Washington
Jim Fitzpatrick Vice President, Pacific Northwest Cigna
Will Fox Principal and Consulting Actuary Milliman
Albert Froling Technical Product Manager Washington State Hospital Association
Stephanie Garnett Network Market Head Aetna
Jim Gregson Vice President Parker, Smith & Feek
Sean Haugen Network & Contracting Analytics Director, Actuarial Services: WA Region Kaiser Permanente Washington
Jutta Joesch Healthcare Economist King County
Jae Kennedy Professor of Health Policy and Administration Washington State University Elson S Floyd College of Medicine
David LaMarche Chief Administrative Officer Eastside Health Network
Shawna Lang Account Manager Health Care Authority
Ross Laursen Vice President Premera Blue Cross
Larry McNutt Senior Vice President, Corporate Admin/Pension Northwest Administrators, Inc.
Christine Palermo Physician Advisor, Finance Virginia Mason Medical Center
Deborah Profant Associate Director, Managed Care Medical Science Liaison Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Brian Ritchie Assistant Director Actuarial – Strategic Provider Analytics Regence BlueShield
John Robinson, MD Consumer Representative
Steve Schramm, MD Vice President and Chief Financial Officer MultiCare Connected Care, LLC
Walter Sive Consumer Representative