Alliance Blog

This week, the Alliance released its tenth version of the Community Checkup report, along with the second set of results for the Washington State Common Measure Set for Health Care Quality and Cost. In the report you will find that unwarranted variation continues to be a problem in our state. This pattern of significant variation ...

High-value health care: that’s the goal, for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our community. No one knowingly chooses low value, not for something as important as health care. We all want health care that offers the best possible outcomes, with confidence that no matter where we go for care that we’ll reliably experience high ...

Governor Inslee announced this morning his office’s plan to address the opioid use public health crisis by coordinating multi-sector efforts through executive order. We applaud the Governor for his strong leadership on addressing the opioid crisis. And we are honored to have been named a partner in action for this important initiative. One of the ...

The number of people enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) through their employer is growing. Almost 90 percent of enrollees in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces are in a plan with a deductible above the amount that qualifies a plan as an HDHP. And as our past Community Checkup reports have shown, there continues ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome Bayer as the newest member of the Alliance. About Bayer Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group ...

Governor Inslee announced yesterday morning that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded Washington State $1.5 billion for Medicaid transformation as part of the governor’s Healthier Washington initiative. We applaud the hard work and negotiations our colleagues at the State engaged in to reach an agreement in-principle with CMS. The 1115 Medicaid Waiver ...

Governor Inslee announced this morning that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded Washington State $1.5 billion for Medicaid transformation as part of the governor’s Healthier Washington initiative. We applaud the hard work and negotiations our colleagues at the State engaged in to reach an agreement in-principle with CMS. The 1115 Medicaid ...

The Alliance is pleased to announce the launch of its newly enhanced Own Your Health website. The Own Your Health campaign empowers Washington consumers to become active participants in their own health and health care. Thanks to a generous grant from the Washington State Health Care Authority’s Healthier Washington initiative, the Alliance has redesigned the Own ...

It’s been an eventful summer for the Alliance, and I want to update you on the Alliance’s direction in the coming months. As you know, the state decided to select two out-of-state vendors to run the WA-APCD, and it is fair to ask how that decision will impact the Alliance’s core work of convening and ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome Orexigen Therapeutics and rebmeM as the newest members of the Alliance. About Orexigen Therapeutics Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of obesity. Orexigen’s first medicine, Contrave® (naltrexone HCl and bupropion HCl extended release), was approved in the United States in September 2014 and has ...

The Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3) and the Catalyst for Payment Reform recently released their fourth report card on State Price Transparency Laws. Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Oregon stand atop the rankings with “A” and “B” grades. Forty-three states, Washington among them, earned an “F” grade for price transparency for the fourth ...

Shining a light on unwarranted variation in health care drives our efforts on public reporting of health care performance. In the coming weeks, we will be publishing reports on variation. Different Regions, Different Care is a report that will highlight how geography has an impact on how frequently people get certain treatments and procedures. In ...