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.
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 |
|
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 |
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. |
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 quarterly 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.
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 |