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Alliance in the News
November 17, 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board Community Checkup: Room to Improve The Puget Sound Health Alliance has unveiled a "community checkup" report that tracks whether local residents are being treated according to best practices nationally in such critical areas as diabetes, asthma and heart conditions. It's a particularly useful tool for health care professionals, who are genuinely interested in doing their best, but it also has implications for consumers, employers and the region generally. Read more November 17, 2008 American Nurses Association SmartBrief Report: Seattle-area medical treatment varies widely Hospitals and clinics across the Puget Sound region were inconsistent in their care of certain medical conditions, including eye exams for diabetic patients and blood clot prevention for heart surgery patients, according to a "Community Checkup" report from the Puget Sound Health Alliance. Read more November 14, 2008 Seattle Times Medical care varies widely at area clinics and hospitals A new report shows the quality of medical care varies widely among Puget Sound-area clinics and hospitals, and many patients fail to get standard treatments for diabetes, heart surgery and other health problems. Read more November 14, 2008 Seattle/LocalHealthGuide Quality of health care varies widely in the region, report says Many patients in the Puget Sound region are not getting the health care recommended by national guidelines, according to a new study. The study also found that quality of care in the region varies widely from hospital to hospital, from clinic to clinic, and even from provider to provider within same medical group or institution. Read more November 14, 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Comparing local clinics, hospitals: new online tool A new free service comparing health care at clinics and hospitals in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Kitsap counties is now online. The Puget Sound Health Alliance yesterday unveiled its "Community Checkup" report on healthcare performance in the region. Read more October 29, 2008 Seatte Post-Intelligencer Doctors in Study Prefer Whites to Blacks: UW Researchers Take a Look at Physician BiasesRacial disparities have long been documented in health care, but a University of Washington study on doctors' possible biases is validating the feelings of many African-American patients. Released Tuesday, the study found that most doctors unconsciously prefer white people to black people. The exception was black doctors, who exhibited no preference for either race. Read more August 2008 Managed Healthcare Executive Delivering Information - AHRQ Drives Quality in ContextBecause there are so few methods to funnel new intelligence into the healthcare system, valuable discoveries have the risk of going unnoticed and unused. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is tasked with a mission to gather research and disseminate valuable findings to those who can translate information into practice. (See section on the Alliance on the last page of the article.) Read more August 25, 2008 Healthcare IT News Puget Sound Health Alliance Gears Up for Second Local Provider Report Card The Puget Sound Health Alliance is set to release a second local provider report card to the public in November. Read moreAugust 24, 2008 Federal Telemedicine News Grants Awarded plus RFP Issued The Regence Foundation recently awarded the Puget Sound Health Alliance $50,000 to create a web-based portal to deliver performance results to Puget Sound area clinics. The funding will enable the performance reports to be valuable tools to refine clinical improvement processes, identify and start new patient support programs, and guide overall quality improvements. Read moreJuly 13, 2008 The Olympian Prescriptions for Health InformationThe Puget Sound Health Alliance is partnering with several organizations in the South Sound on a pilot program around prescriptions for health information. Read more June 6, 2008 Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) Health Alliance lands $1M grant for patient initiativesThe nonprofit Puget Sound Health Alliance has landed $1 million in grants for initiatives to improve health care in Washington, which if effective could slash medical costs by many millions of dollars. The grants flow from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a Princeton, N.J., philanthropic organization aiming to improve health care for all Americans. Read more June 5, 2008 The Seattle Times (editorial) Moving toward smarter health-care decisions Amid the political promises about sweeping health-care reform, the Puget Sound Health Alliance is tackling the real nitty-gritty of reform — and has earned more resources to keep doing it. Impressed enough with its previous investment in the alliance, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today is announcing another grant of $1 million over the next three years so the alliance can continue collaborative work with health-care providers, insurers, employers and other community members. Read more June 5, 2008 Seattle Post Intelligencer Millions granted to improve health care: Puget Sound area part of 14-site collaborationOn the heels of a nationwide study pointing to major discrepancies in patient care in hospitals across the U.S., the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation pledged $1 million to the Puget Sound Health Alliance to help improve health care quality. Read more June 5, 2008 The Seattle Times Grant to Puget Sound Health Alliance will target health inequities The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced it will give the Puget Sound Health Alliance more than $1 million and significant technical assistance as part of a $300 million initiative to improve health quality in 14 communities around the country. Read more May 2, 2008 Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) McWilliams to Head Health Alliance Mary McWilliams has been named executive director of the Puget Sound Health Alliance. The nonprofit corporation was formed in late 2004 to research how to improve both health and health care in the Puget Sound region. McWilliams is currently president of Regence BlueShield in Washington and also is a past board chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. She replaces the first executive director, Margaret Stanley, who is retiring. March 31, 2008 King County Sims Receives National Award for Health Reform The groundbreaking health care reform initiatives of King County Executive Ron Sims have been recognized with a prestigious national award. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a Washington, D.C. non-profit and a leader in advancing health care quality, has tapped Sims for its 2008 Health Quality Award for his work founding the Puget Sound Health Alliance and pioneering the county's employee wellness initiative. Sims is joined in this national recognition by Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arkansas Surgeon General Joseph Thompson. Link to story March 21, 2008 KPLU 88.5 FM Tracking Quality Health Care Sharing information in the digital-age seems like an easy task. But the health care industry is still catching up. That's the assessment from the nation's top health official. But one local initiative has caught the fed's attention. KPLU Health & Science reporter Gary Davis explains. Link to story February 12, 2008 The Everett Herald (editorial) Practical Prescriptions for Health Care Reform No single remedy will cure all that ails our health care system. Rather, each of health care's stakeholders -- that's all of us, folks, institutions and individuals -- must take sensible, incremental steps toward improving the quality of care and containing costs. Read more February 6, 2008 Journal for Healthcare Quality Web Exclusives Everyone can agree that quality healthcare is a good thing. But how do we go about measuring quality? Intrepid organizations in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin are answering the call for measurable quality metrics by developing data-pooling operations that can report on healthcare quality. Read more or Download PDF of Article February 6, 2008 The Seattle Times (editorial) A Path to Better Health While state and federal elected officials are planning major surgery on the nation's health-care system, a local group is starting with a shrewder approach: taking the patient's temperature. The Puget Sound Health Alliance last week released "Community Checkup," its first report on the effectiveness of the health care people are getting compared to the best, most cost-efficient practices. Read more February 2, 2008 King County Television Community Checkup Media Briefing View streaming video of the unveiling of the first Community Checkup report at the Puget Sound Health Alliance media breifing on January 31, 2008. February 1, 2008 The Puget Sound Business Journal Alliance: We have work to do on patients' care New data produced by the Puget Sound Health Alliance about how well doctors in the Puget Sound region care for patients give everyone a tool to improve health care - and thereby hold down surging medical costs, which have been hammering employers and governments alike. Read more February 1, 2008 The Associated Press Report: Puget Sound WA Patients Missing Preventative Checkups A report released today says about 20 percent of heart disease or diabetes patients in the Puget Sound did not have their cholesterol checked at least once a year. The Seattle-based Puget Sound Health Alliance produced the report. Read more Feburary 1, 2008 The Tacoma News Tribune Report Card Grades Region’s Health Care Clinics About three years ago, Puget Sound-area business and government leaders came together to figure out ways to save on health insurance by keeping their employees healthy. With the help of the medical community, they formed a group called the Puget Sound Health Alliance, and started crunching data from employees’ health insurance claims – which record what kind of care they get – to determine where improvements could be made. The goal was to see how often patients got the treatments that experts at the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere said they should receive to stay as healthy as possible. The group’s first annual report card came out Thursday. It analyzed outpatient claims data for 1.6 million people in Pierce, Thurston, King, Kitsap and Snohomish counties, and concluded that there’s room for improvement. Read more Feburary 1, 2008 The Olympian Report Points Out Ways Health Care Can Improve Up to one-fifth of patients in the Puget Sound area who need regular cholesterol screenings for diabetes or heart disease are falling through the cracks, a new report says. "Some of us are not getting the care we need," said Dr. David Fleming, chairman of the board of the private, nonprofit Puget Sound Health Alliance, which produced the study. The report was designed to identify gaps in the region's health care system and to suggest where improvements need to be made. Read more February 1, 2008 The Seattle Times First Check-Up for Area's Clinics After years of work, lots of fanfare and a plentiful dose of disagreement, a collaboration by employers, health insurers, unions and medical providers around Puget Sound has produced a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive comparison of the medical care performed at 14 different clinic systems in the Puget Sound area. Read more February 1, 2008 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Local Health Care 'Checkup' Finds Room For Improvement: Survey looked at patients, clinics in 5 counties In an effort to identify areas in local health care that need improving, the Puget Sound Health Alliance conducted a "community checkup" of 1.6 million patients, finding that many measures were below standard. Results of that checkup were released Thursday, with alliance members calling the findings a baseline to begin changing care for the better. Read more January 21, 2008 Nibbling at the Edges of Health Care The Seattle Times (editorial) Kate Riley highlights the efforts of the Alliance to improve quality and reduce costs in the Puget Sound region. Read more December 12, 2007 National Business Coalition on Health Releases 2008 eValue8™ RFI PRNewswire Today the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), a non-profit organization of employer-based health coalitions, released its 2008 eValue8(TM) Common Request for Information (RFI), an annual tool used by health care purchasers to compare the quality and efficiency of America's health plans. Read more December 2007 Profile of a Community Leader: Puget Sound Health Alliance The Alliance is profiled as the first Value-driven Health Care Community Leader in the December publication of The Cornerstone. Read moreNovember 26, 2007 Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise The Seattle Times (editorial) Response to Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey's November 13th editorial. Read more November 13, 2007 More Health Care Is Not Necessarily Better Care The Seattle Times (editorial) A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine should put America on notice that the health-care debate cannot stop at cost and coverage. What happens once you get inside the doctor's office — the quality of the actual care you receive — is a topic ripe for discussion. Read more October 29, 2007 Premera Quality Program is One of Two In U.S. Selected to Study Impact of Health Insurer Programs on Patient Health and Cost Business Wire After a six-year collaboration with statewide physicians and clinics, Premera Blue Cross’ healthcare quality improvement programs will be the focus of a major independent academic study to evaluate the impact of quality programs on the healthcare delivered by Washington physicians and clinics. Read more September 24, 2007 Washington state doctors lead their own quality appraisal amednews.com Fresh from its battle against a local health plan's performance-based network, the Washington State Medical Assn. is close to issuing confidential reports that will allow physician members to examine how their quality measures up against their peers and best practice. Read more August 2007 An Interview with Margaret Stanley of Puget Sound Health Alliance Washington Healthcare News Interview about the work of the Alliance - June 2007. Read more August 2007 Puget Sound Health Alliance receives $15,000 donation Snohomish County Business Journal The Puget Sound Health Alliance recently received an unsolicited donation of $15,000 from the Health Care Purchasers Association in support of the Alliance mission and progress to improve health care. Read more July 27, 2007 Consumers scratch heads as insurers, hospital groups and Medicare offer varied ratings: Spread of medical 'report cards' called confusing The Puget Sound Business Journal Medicare has expanded its website giving consumers information on hospital price and quality, signaling that medical "report cards" are continuing to expand. But critics contend such ratings still fail to provide measures that people can easily understand and use. Read more July 10, 2007 National Business Coalition on Health Elects New Board Officers PR Newswire Today the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), a non-profit organization of more than 70 employer-based health coalitions, representing over 10,000 employers across the United States, announced its slate of new officers for the Board of Governors. Read more April 11, 2007 Health Care: Bill is too Narrow The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (editorial) Chiropractors are supporting SB5597, which would unnecessarily give them a pass from part of providers' controls on quality and efficiency. Read more March 11, 2007 Prescriptions: Pricier Isn't Necessarily Better The Everett Herald (editorial) Everyone associated with health care plans - providers, insurers, employers, patients - have a self-interest and a wider societal responsibility to do what's possible to keep costs down. The movement toward generic drugs, which go through the same rigorous testing for safety and effectiveness as their name-brand counterparts, is to be encouraged. Read more February 26, 2007 Letting Doctors in on the Ratings Process Workforce Management Nearly two years before Regence Blue Shield issued its first letter telling doctors they would not be included in Boeing Co.’s select network, another organization just a few miles away was working toward a similar goal of rating medical clinics, hospitals and doctors, but in a much different way. The Seattle-based Puget Sound Health Alliance started with "all the constituents at the table," says Diane Giese, a spokeswoman for the group. Read more January 29, 2007 Patients Can Compare Hospital Costs Online The Seattle Times The Washington State Hospital Association is making it easier for patients to compare the prices and quality of the state's hospitals -- by simply looking online. Read more January 2007 Health Care Comparisons: Your Turn to Comment Washington Family Physician The Puget Sound Health Alliance is asking for your input and response to the health care comparison report it is developing, the first consolidated public report comparing the quality of care provided in local clinics (medical practices or doctors' offices) and hospitals across the Puget Sound region. Read More January 17, 2007 Models for Achieving the Best Health System in the World Commonwealth Fund Newsletter Creating a "culture of high performance" requires a shared vision among all stakeholders. Public and private sectors must work together to achieve this vision. In Washington, the Puget Sound Health Alliance is an independent non-profit organization composed of employers, physicians, hospitals, consumers, health plans and other interested parties. Read More January, 2007 Seattle-area Group Earns First Federal 'Community Leader' Designation Digital HealthCare & Productivity A Seattle-area collaborative of health providers, payers, business interests, local government, and consumers has become the first organization in the nation to earn federal designation as a "community leader" in value-driven healthcare, making the group eligible to receive Medicare performance data for local, public outcomes reporting. Read More January 7, 2007 Report cards on health care The Seattle Times In dramatic fashion, executives of some of Puget Sound's largest businesses and health concerns stood together last week and signed a pledge to help produce the nation's first public report cards rating health care. Read More January 4, 2007 Federal recognition for Puget Sound Health Alliance Seattle Post Intelligencer The Puget Sound Health Alliance on Wednesday was named the first organization in the country to become a part of a national network aimed at providing affordable health care and improving patient care. Read More January 4, 2007 Federal deal may boost health care The Olympian Gregoire said the alliance's work would lead to more information in the region about the quality of health care and its cost, bringing "transparency" to consumers. The group hopes to publish its first report this spring. Read More January 4, 2007 Patients will get financial tool The Tacoma News TribuneSoon, you’re likely be able to shop for hospitals and doctors the way you shop for cars – armed with the latest information on how they stack up against the competition, both in quality and cost. Read More January 4, 2007 Group close to issuing health clinic report cards The Seattle Times Enter the Puget Sound Health Alliance, a coalition of insurers, government agencies and some of Puget Sound's largest businesses, which is gearing up to crunch all that raw data — your health-care insurance claims — and, by mid-2007, spit out public report cards rating health clinics. Read More January 4, 2007 More on Federal Recognition of PS Health Care Alliance Olympia Business Watch I think of this less as health care reform, which always seems to mean more government and less choice, than as a sensible effort to give patients and purchasers the information they need to make a market-based system work. That's a worthwhile goal. Read More January 3, 2007 The Push for Value-Driven Health Care Starts Here Olympia Business Watch The Health Alliance, chaired by King County Executive Ron Sims, has taken the lead in a data-intensive effort to allow consumers and purchasers access to information that will let them evaluate health care costs and quality. Read More January 3, 2007 HHS Secretary Recognizes Puget Sound Health Alliance as First 'Community Leader' in National Network PR Newswire HHS Secretary MikeLeavitt today issued formal recognition of the Puget Sound Health Allianceas part of an expanded network of region-based organizations focused onimproving the quality of health care while reducing health care costinflation. Read More January 3, 2007 King County becomes first local government to promote federal goals for better health information News Release: King County Executive Ron Sims King County Executive Ron Sims has issued an Executive Order that will improve health care information in King County and help increase access to better, more affordable healthcare. Read More January 3, 2007 State, U.S. to launch new health-care effortPuget Sound Business Journal Together with six similar organizations elsewhere, the Puget Sound Health Alliance will form the beginning of a national network of local organizations that will use standardized measures to assess the quality of care delivered by physicians and hospitals and will then publicly report the results. Read More December 2006 Profile: In-Depth Look at an Initiative that Is Making a Difference The Commonwealth Fund The Alliance is using its broad market share to encourage providers and insurers to offer better value to consumers, and giving consumers tools to manage their care more effectively. While other organizations around the country have brought together purchasers and payers, the Alliance is unusual in that it also includes providers and patients. Read More December 4, 2006 Seattle Clinic Receives National Recognition for Care of Diabetes Patients Yahoo! FinanceIn late November, 12 Polyclinic physicians -- and the clinic as a whole -- earned recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) for delivering outstanding care to patients with diabetes. In Nov. 2006, Polyclinic Physicians were granted 3 year recognition by the NCQA/ADA Diabetes Physician Recognition Program. Read More September 13, 2006 Making Wise Health Care Decisions Should Be Easier Seattle Post Intelligencer Choosing your doctor and your health care are some of the most important decisions you will make for you and your family. Currently, people have more information about how to choose a computer or car. We can do better. Read More August 25, 2006 EDITORIAL: King County Council Should Help Pay for Health Care Reports Puget Sound Business Journal Our health-care system has many shortcomings, but among the most insidious is its lack of transparency. Comparable measurements of hospitals and clinics are either unavailable or indecipherable for most health-care consumers, from working parents to corporate benefits administrators… Fortunately, the Puget Sound Health Alliance is addressing the problem. Read More August 18, 2006 Reformers Hope Database Revamps Health Care Puget Sound Business Journal The Puget Sound Health Alliance is setting out to create a massive database with statewide information drawn from millions of health-insurance claims — an initiative that could give employers and consumers powerful information for choosing doctors and hospitals. Read More August 11, 2006 Alliance, Employers Talk Health Costs Puget Sound Business Journal Representatives of the Puget Sound Health Alliance have begun meeting with employers to discuss recommendations for improving health care and trimming its cost. Read More August 6, 2006 EDITORIAL: Health Alliance Leading Way to Reform, Locally The Everett Herald A local effort to do what has become all but impossible at the national level get a handle on rising health-care costs while improving the quality of care is making serious inroads. Read More August 2, 2006 Health Group to Assist County The Everett Herald The Snohomish County finance committee heard an update Tuesday on its $33,000 investment in the Puget Sound Health Alliance. The county joined the alliance last fall as part of an effort to provide employees with better health care and to control cost increases. Read more July 10, 2006 Health Alliance Receives $616K Grant Puget Sound Business Journal The Puget Sound Health Alliance has received a $616,500 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that will be used to examine how health-care quality and care can be improved in the region. Read more June 02, 2006 May 19 , 2006 February 10, 2006
January 2006
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October 13, 2005
September 5, 2005 Puget Sound Business Journal Puget Sound Health Alliance Chairman and King County Executive Ron Sims and Alliance Board member and VP of Benefits at Washington Mutual Mike Cochran recently participated in a City Club luncheon panel on innovations in health care. Highlights of the luncheon panel were featured in an article in The Puget Sound Business Journal. the Alliance was mentioned in an additional Puget Sound Business Journal article on evidence-based medicine.
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Jan. 29, 2005 Seattle Times
Jan. 29, 2005 King County Journal
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