Alliance Blog

Nationally, disparities in care have become a hot topic as health care systems begin to implement population management strategies. There are many national and state-level reports on disparities that look at health outcomes. However, the focus of the Alliance’s 2014 report on disparities in care is on process measures which reflect how often evidence-based care is ...

Learn about The Everett Clinic’s precedent-setting decision to begin posting self-pay prices on their website, beginning with six common imaging services. This action was met with positive attention from the media, health care professionals, patients and community members across the state. Download the June 2014 Spotlight on Improvement (775 KB PDF) >>

This month, we’re excited to welcome three new members: Capital Benefit Services, Inc., Capital Medical Center and Washington Managed Imaging. Thanks to the support of our members, the Alliance is able to produce the Community Checkup, moving the needle toward a more transparent and high-quality health care system. Capital Benefit Services, Inc. Capital Benefit Services has been providing comprehensive ...

As part of Journalists on Quality, a series of insightful profiles written by prominent health policy journalists on how Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality initiative has affected health care in local communities, journalist Duncan Moore describes how the Washington Health Alliance has fostered a culture of health focused on wellness and transparency ...

The Alliance’s executive director, Mary McWilliams, has decided to retire from her position later this year. Mary has had a long and distinguished career in health care and decided this is the right time to retire, knowing the Alliance is in a strong position. She believes that the start of new initiatives for statewide expansion ...

The Washington Health Alliance (the Alliance) today unveiled its new name and released its first Community Checkup to include health care quality results for the entire state. To reflect its expansion beyond its original five-county region, the Alliance, formerly known as the Puget Sound Health Alliance, has changed its name and will be reaching out ...

A article in the Puget Sound Business Journal by Valerie Bauman reported on trends in health care in 2014, quoting Mary McWilliams, executive director of the Washington Health Alliance. Bauman wrote: “Transparency will be the health care buzzword of 2014, particularly in Washington, which has an industry-government collaboration working to bring clarity to the health ...

For the first time, the Alliance is reporting statewide data at the county level as part of the Community Checkup. In doing so, the Alliance is bringing a greater level of transparency about the quality of care that all Washington residents receive, in the belief that what gets measured, gets managed. The following charts provide ...

An article in the Puget Sound Business Journal by Valerie Bauman reported on exciting new changes for the Alliance: “The Puget Sound Health Alliance has a new name to reflect its new, broader reach. Now called the Washington Health Alliance, the organization continues its work to track the quality of care at medical groups and ...

Using the Medicaid data from the 2012 Community Checkup, the Alliance has produced reports for medical groups showing their performance on the Community Checkup by race, ethnicity, and language. The purpose of these reports is to help providers who serve the Medicaid population – and not everyone does – better understand potential disparities within their ...

Health Care Authority, Puget Sound Health Alliance to partner on project to make health care pricing more transparent Washington State Health Care Authority Director Dorothy Teeter announced today that the state will partner with the Puget Sound Health Alliance to use a $3.4 million, two-year federal grant to improve health care transparency and augment rate review. ...