Gov. Jay Inslee has announced the appointment of Lou McDermott as interim director of the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA), replacing Dorothy Frost Teeter. The Alliance congratulates McDermott on his appointment and looks forward to a continued close partnership with the HCA. Healthier Washington, an initiative of the HCA, shares many of the same goals as the Alliance, particularly for Washington state to be among the top ten percent in performance nationally in the delivery of high-quality, high-value health care.

McDermott has been Division Director of Public Employees Benefits for the HCA since 2012, and has also been Co-Chair of the Alliance’s Purchaser Affinity Group since 2015. In that capacity, he has helped facilitate employers and labor trusts meeting regularly to discuss value-based benefit design and other ways to reduce the medical cost trend. This includes recently bringing together members of the Purchaser Affinity Group with commercial health plans, providing an opportunity for purchasers and plans to discuss value-based purchasing, cost and utilization management, consumer engagement strategies, and improving access to behavioral health services.

“The Alliance has a long-standing relationship with Lou McDermott and the HCA and we are pleased to see his leadership recognized,” said Nancy Giunto, executive director of the Alliance. “We are confident that he will bring continued innovation as Healthier Washington works to promote a value-based health care system in Washington.”

McDermott replaces Teeter, who announced in April she would be stepping down in June. The Alliance has had a long and productive relationship with Teeter and looks forward to continuing to work with her in the future. Her unique combination of creativity, curiosity, intellect and decisiveness helped put King County, the federal government and then Washington state on the forefront of health reform.