Building a strong future for the Alliance and for our state
The Alliance has enjoyed many successes since its start 10 years ago and you have been a vital part of these efforts. Our hard work continues, and here are a few exciting initiatives that will continue to position the Alliance as a catalyst for health care transformation in our state.
Since 2008, the Community Checkup website has been a trusted resource for Washington health consumers seeking out a high-quality primary care home; for health care purchasers seeking to the reward the best providers in their health care benefits strategy; and for providers seeking to benchmark themselves against their peers and find opportunities to improve the quality of the care they deliver. Building on that legacy, we are embarking on an exciting new phase of the Community Checkup. In the next year, we will be designing the next generation Community Checkup to better meet the needs of all the stakeholders in our local health care system and to support value-based health care purchasing. We are engaging Alliance committees to envision ideas and suggestions for our enhanced website. If you do not serve currently on an Alliance committee, your ideas are still valued and welcomed. Please direct your suggestions to me at: ngiunto@wahealthalliance.org.
Reducing overuse
Another big initiative is our continued partnership with the ABIM Foundation on Choosing Wisely ®. We are collaborating with the Washington State Medical Association, Group Health Cooperative and Swedish Health Services to significantly reduce overuse. The goal of this next phase of work is to reduce, over the next three years, by 20 percent use of antibiotics for acute upper respiratory viral infections, imaging for uncomplicated headaches and overly frequent Pap tests for women. This work places Washington as a national leader in the movement to reduce overuse and waste.
We are also delighted to announce that Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated, will be the speaker at our next All-Alliance meeting on September 24. Ms. Brownlee is a national thought leader on the topic of overuse and waste in our health care system, and her presentation is sure to be a thought-provoking one. Her presentation will be followed by a panel of local leaders representing providers, purchasers and health care consumers who will continue the conversation about overutilization of health care services and the troubling, unwarranted variation in quality and cost we continue to see in our state.
We need your support
Our current health care system, that rewards volume over value, is slowly beginning to change. The Alliance is helping to lead this change, but we need your continued support to transform the health care system. Thank you for all you do as we all work together to make health care higher quality and more affordable in our state.