Keeping up the momentum from 2022, the Alliance plans to drive value, change in 2023
As we round out 2022, the Washington Health Alliance remains grateful for member and community support that has empowered us to develop new, innovative reports, bring organizations and individuals together on crucial healthcare issues, and drive change toward better health for all Washingtonians.
While the Alliance staff has accomplished much in the past year, projects and initiatives for 2023 are well underway, and we are committed to driving value for our members and the community.
The Alliance is committed to building on the value it offers through:
- Reporting – As a national leader in public reporting that is reliable and reproducible, we produce insights and address clinical impacts, and financial opportunities, as well as identify healthcare inequities across our state.
- Driving change – We convene, connect and collaborate to influence better healthcare decision-making as the only independent, engaged multi-stakeholder healthcare collaborative in Washington.
- Creating value – Through data-driven insights into local area issues, we can improve both clinical and financial health within communities throughout Washington.
In 2022, your support led to a number of initiatives including Total Cost of Care, the Low-Back Pain Implementation Collaborative, and further Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work that raised awareness of behavioral health care barriers in the LGBTQ+ community.
Through Total Cost of Care, the Alliance offered a groundbreaking report on healthcare costs by region in Washington state. The Alliance developed this further with a first-ever cost breakdown by medical group and clinic. In a final highlight in 2022, the Alliance combined Total Cost of Care and the Quality Composite Score to offer an unparalleled look at where high-quality care is paired with low cost.
Similarly in 2022, we launched our Low-Back Pain Implementation Collaborative, which brings together more than 30 stakeholders and leading experts. It has since developed crucial resources, including the Acute Low-Back Pain Care Pathway, to address a medical issue that too often leads to unnecessary, low-value care in our state. Statewide, providers have already started to update multiple facets of their programs to reflect suggestions from this collaborative.
Continuing our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in health care, the Alliance hosted a Pride Month screening of the “Between the Shades” documentary, along with an expert panel discussion focused on barriers to behavioral health care for the LGBTQ+ community. In November, the Alliance published an Action Brief highlighting how to address those barriers to fight stigma and discrimination while increasing access to care.
Next year, we will build on all of those efforts with additional work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in healthcare, targeted convenings on a number of pivotal healthcare topics, and even richer reports that will include focused attention to healthcare outcomes by neighborhood across Washington. This will allow for research and activities to directly address inequities in specific communities while offering a better understanding of barriers and an opportunity to make inroads to help all Washingtonians achieve optimal health.
All the while, we intend to keep a close eye on healthcare issues that impact our community and will lend our knowledge and expertise to help spur conversation and inform decisions. The Alliance’s Quality Improvement Committee will be taking action to improve reported measures including chlamydia screening and well-child visits between 0 -15 months, both of which our state scores in the bottom 25 percent nationally.
As always, your input matters to us at the Alliance. Never hesitate to reach out. We look forward to working together in 2023 to drive healthcare change that will benefit all of Washington.