Alliance Blog

The price of health care in Washington state is all over the map. In fact, some health care providers charge as much as twice (or more) than what other providers charge for the same procedure, such as joint replacement or the birth of a child, even though the patients they see aren’t any sicker. Even ...

When you enter a doctor’s office, what kind of experience do you have? Does the staff treat you with respect? Does your doctor listen to you and seem to know your medical history? Are you able to get a timely appointment when you need it? Do you get reminders for your preventive health screenings or ...

Quality varies widely from one provider’s office to another and even from one doctor’s patient to another. Not all care is equally good. Learn what you can do to find a provider that will help you stay healthy and care for you when you need it. What is high-quality care? Good health care is the ...

As individual consumers, every time we make a purchase we must weigh cost and quality to determine value. Employers and labor union trusts purchasing health care benefits are doing the same thing—they’re just buying a lot at one time and at a big cost to their organizations. But what kind of care are your employees ...

Improving the performance of our health care system requires collaboration between all stakeholders – providers, purchasers, health plans and consumers. For a decade, the Alliance has worked to strengthen the role of the health consumer through a number of activities, including: Choosing Wisely, our patient experience survey, the Consumer Engagement Committee and the Own Your ...

Recently released results from a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust found employers continue to shift expenses to workers, with deductibles rising substantially faster than total health costs. According to the survey, 46 percent of covered workers have a deductible of at least $1,000 this year for single ...

Value-based purchasing is industry speak for something we do every day—buy things, services and experiences. In each purchase we weigh cost and quality to determine value. We can purchase health care services in the same way if we ask the right questions, collaborate with brokers, health plans and providers and push for answers. This takes ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome the Washington Health Benefit Exchange as the newest member of the Alliance. The Washington Health Benefit Exchange is a public-private partnership established in accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) to implement a new health insurance marketplace for individuals and small businesses. The Exchange ...

Since its founding a decade ago, the Alliance has been dedicated to leading health system change. That’s why we are proud to partner with the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) on the Healthier Washington initiative. Healthier Washington is the state’s innovative effort to transform our health care system so that people experience better health ...

This month, we’re excited to welcome both Valant and Relypsa as the newest members of the Alliance. Valant Valant® is transforming the quality of behavioral health care in the U.S. through its SaaS electronic health records (EHR) and electronic billing suite for psychiatrists, therapists and behavioral health professionals. Founded in 2005 by Dr. David Lischner, ...

Reducing underuse of effective care has been a long-standing goal of the Alliance. Addressing disparities in care, based on race, ethnicity, language or socioeconomic status, is one way to evaluate progress on this goal. This September, we will be releasing our third Disparities in Care report, revealing disparities in patient care based on race, language and ...

We want high quality, affordable health care for everyone – whatever their race, ethnicity, financial status, gender or where they live. But we know that who you are can affect the care that you get. That’s a particular issue for minority communities, where some people not only experience higher rates of disease, but also don’t ...