Alliance Blog

March 7, 2019 Via Email The Honorable Lamar Alexander 455 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Alexander, Thank you for the opportunity to provide recommendations to help reduce waste in our health care system. The Washington Health Alliance (Alliance) is pleased to respond to your call to action as we have spent ...

Reducing waste and making health care affordable—these are issues that engender more questions than answers. But I’m happy to report there is some encouraging news. We are fortunate to have a speaker coming to our next all-Alliance meeting who has some provocative things to say on the subject. Chris Koller, President of the Milbank Memorial ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome Prescryptive Health, Inc. as the newest member of the Alliance. About Prescryptive Health, Inc. Prescryptive, a new company that launched on January 1, 2019, is looking to put the prescription drug purchasing power in the hands of patients. CEO and co-founder Chris Blackley says Prescryptive has the potential to ...

It’s hard to believe we’re going backwards in the immunization department. But that’s exactly what’s happening. The recent measles outbreak in Clark County and across the country is evidence that our data is right: children are not always getting their well-child visits which is an important opportunity to ensure they are receiving the immunizations they ...

You cut your finger making dinner. You’re not sure if you need stitches, and you have a high deductible. You quickly check online for the cost and the waiting time at the nearest hospital emergency room. But all you can find is a $307 charge for something described as a LAY CLOS HND/FT=<2.5CM.  What the ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome Polsinelli as the newest member of the Alliance. About Polsinelli Polsinelli  provides a full-spectrum of legal services in a range of industries. This firm is committed to providing advice that meets the strategic business objectives of their regional and national clients. Recognized in the legal community for their achievements, ...

In the introduction to our 2018 Community Checkup – just released this week – we use the metaphor of a journey to describe our health care improvement efforts in Washington state. Along with our health care partners and stakeholders, we have been on this journey for more than two decades. And like kids in the ...

Our second “First, Do No Harm: Calculating Health Care Waste in Washington State” is out. This year’s report looks at 48 measures of common medical treatments, tests and procedures using the MedInsight Health Waste Calculator from Milliman.  The report found that an estimated $341 million was spent on unnecessary health care in Washington state during a one-year period ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome Airrosti as the newest member of the Alliance. About Airrosti Airrosti providers are singularly focused on getting results for their patients, while providing the highest level of quality care. Airrosti focuses on accurately diagnosing the root cause of pain, then fully resolving that pain as quickly as possible. Their ...

This month’s letter is written by Deputy Director Susie Dade on a timely topic, the impact of purchasers on value-based purchasing strategies – one of her many areas of expertise. Earlier this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers released their 2018 “Health and Well-being Touchstone Survey Results.”  This survey includes data from over 900 participating employers in 37 industries ...

  “The Alliance has been an incredible advocate for quality and value in healthcare and has taken on very impressive projects to increase transparency and arm our patients, employers and health care providers across our state with information that they can use to provide patients care. Your work shows exactly why transparency is such an ...

On a hot, smoky, not-so-transparent day in Seattle last month, I received an email from a staff member of the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee inquiring about my interest to testify before a bipartisan hearing on the topic of reducing health care costs through transparency. We sent a copy of our ...