We cannot fix what we don’t measure. To improve quality, decrease waste and improve affordability of health care in this region, we need better information to assess performance and cost. The Alliance offers focused, data-driven reports on health care cost and quality in the state of Washington. The reports help the health care community determine how well we’re doing as a state to reach our goals for quality and value in health care.

Choosing Wisely®

Community Checkup

Different Regions, Different Care

First, Do No Harm Report

Your Voice Matters

Additional Reports

2012 Medical Group Survey Results

Clinical Improvement Team Reports

Disparities in Care Report

eValue8™

Generic Drug Prescribing Report

Hospital Readmissions

Hospital Sticker Shock

Resource Use

Right Care, Right Setting

Hospital Readmissions and Outpatient Care

Efforts to reduce hospital readmissions not only improve the health of patients, but can also help control spiraling medical costs.  This report is a first look at hospital readmissions for the commercially insured in Washington state.

Right Care, Right Setting

This report offers a unique look at the problem of potentially avoidable ER visits in Washington state. The standard that the Alliance used to identify these visits is very conservative, reducing the chances that true emergencies would be included in the results. These are diagnoses that providers widely accept as appropriate for treatment in a primary care office.

Different Regions, Different Health Care: Where You Live Matters

These reports found that where someone lives often influences the health care services they receive. By looking at health care service delivery patterns for common tests and procedures, the Alliance found significant geographic variation in how often these tests and procedures, which can be expensive and pose potential medical risk, are delivered.

Your Voice Matters

Your Voice Matters is an initiative to understand patients’ experience with their primary health care providers. This is the only report of its kind in the Puget Sound area.

2018 Survey

2016 Survey

2014 Survey

2012 Survey

eValue8

Sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), eValue8™ is the nation’s leading, evidence-based request for information tool used to assess the quality of health plans. The eValue8 process allows participating purchasers and the top management of health plans to engage in direct discussions about expected health care provider performance. The Alliance, on behalf of its members, has worked with NBCH to conduct a rigorous evaluation of health plans in Washington state. The evaluation process aims to generate consistency in health plan assessment, stimulate improved performance from health plans, enable purchasers and plans to work collaboratively and inform purchasers’ procurement decisions.

Disparities in Care Report

Health disparities refer to the differences in health and health care received among groups of people. The groups most likely to receive less effective and evidence-based care include ethnic and racial minorities, women, children or the elderly, or persons with disabilities. The purpose of this report is to help providers who serve Medicaid populations better understand potential disparities within their practice and help them identify both areas of improvement and successes that can be replicated.

Choosing Wisely®

Choosing Wisely® is a national initiative helping physicians and patients have conversations about the overuse of tests and procedures and supporting physician efforts to help patients make smart and effective care choices. The Alliance was awarded a grant from the ABIM Foundation to help advance the goals of the Choosing Wisely campaign.

Price reports

Higher price of care does not necessarily mean higher quality care. Reports on health care prices, paired with reports on quality like you can find on our Community Checkup website, are important information for health plans, employers, providers and consumers.

Hospital sticker shock: A report on hospital price variation in Washington state

Use of Resources in High-Volume Hospitalizations

The Resource Use report looks at utilization, or use of health care services, as a driver of health care costs. Using Community Checkup data, this report looks at the physician services offered for specific surgical procedures.

2012 Medical Group Survey Results

As part of ongoing quality improvement efforts, the Alliance conducted a survey of primary care medical groups and clinics that had participated in the Community Checkup. The intent of the survey was to collect and share information that described whether or not activities and tools were being implemented to enhance effective coordination of care within the practice setting.

Generic Drug Prescribing Report

Because pharmaceutical management is an important component of high quality health care, this report reveals the generic fill rate at the individual provider level for four classes of prescription drugs. This report concluded that significant cost savings could be achieved if the generic fill rate was increased.

Clinical Improvement Team Reports

One of the primary activities of the Alliance is issuing public reports on provider performance in managing and preventing a variety of chronic diseases. Between 2006 and 2007, our clinical improvement team developed reports on specific conditions or categories of care. Each report recommends clinical care guidelines, quality measures and strategies for achieving optimal performance on the quality measures.

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