Alliance Blog

The Chicago Business Journal article, “Who’s Watching the Money?”, extends the fiduciary obligations businesses have under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to its health care benefits plans and the requirement to manage them “with the care, skill, and diligence of a prudent person.” That responsibility includes reducing waste, and cites its prevalence using ...

A key issue facing our healthcare system today is the impact of the social needs, social risks, and social determinants on today’s workforce. No longer just a public health concern, issues with economic instability, housing, transportation, and access to healthcare can have a significant impact on the health and well-being of employees and their families. ...

WellSpark Health is a wellbeing program that accounts for every dimension of employees’ lives. They see each employee as the sum of everything in their life—from their culture, to their community to their physical health. Their life-dimensional approach puts health challenges into context of a person’s total life. WellSpark is able to provide empowering guidance ...

The past year has been a bit of a rollercoaster for us at the Washington Health Alliance (Alliance), as we have had some highs, lows, and unexpected twists and turns, as it has likely been for you as well. While relieved that vaccinations and boosters have made their way into many people’s arms, we continue ...

We are delighted to announce that Denise Giambalvo is joining the Washington Health Alliance (Alliance) as our new Director of Purchaser Strategies. Denise brings with her extensive experience working with purchaser coalitions that will be helpful in her responsibilities at the Alliance, including: supporting, activating, and expanding the work of the Alliance’s Purchaser Affinity Group; ...

We are pleased to announce that Teresa Battels is joining the Washington Health Alliance (Alliance) as our new Strategic Project Coordinator for the Low-Back Pain Implementation Collaborative (Low-Back PIC). In that role, she will play an integral role in the strategic planning and execution of the project, focused on the implementation of evidence-based strategies to ...

Later this month, Theresa Tamura will be leaving the Washington Health Alliance to take on a new role as a program manager with the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA), where she will help manage the implementation of the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) funding opportunity through the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare ...

Obesity is not just a health issue for more than 40% of the US population, it is a considerable issue for employers who have faced lost productivity and increased medical costs for those with obesity. For employers, brokers, and consultants interested in learning about options to support employees, members, and their dependents with managing obesity, ...

One of the key elements of health reform in 2009-2010 was the engagement of employers pushing for needed change to the system. Since that time, employers have increasingly become active in working to control their health care costs as purchasers, while also engaging in policy conversations to improve the system as a whole. Washington Health ...

The Smarter Health Care Coalition (SHCC), a multi-stakeholder effort working to promote value-based insurance design, is urging the administration to increase benefits for chronic disease management that can be offered pre-deductible for High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Previous IRS guidance made clear that only preventive services could be covered pre-deductible for ...

There is no question that the pandemic has had serious effects on people’s mental health and, at the same time, it has made significant differences to their waistlines. An estimated 28% of Washington residents consider themselves obese, according to a recent CDC survey, using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems (BRFSS), while the national prevalence ...

Washington Health Alliance board member and Confluence Health CEO Dr. Peter Rutherford was awarded the 2021 Joe Hopkins Memorial from the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA). The Joe Hopkins Memorial Award was created in 1987 to acknowledge an individual who displays the spirit of Joe Hopkins, a long-time leader in Washington state health care. It ...