Washington state is the recipient of a new federal grant worth nearly $23 million to help the Health Care Authority (HCA) plan, develop and design the state’s new insurance exchange. This is by far the largest establishment grant awarded to date. Indiana and Rhode Island also successfully applied for the so-called “level one” grants, but their awards were in the $5-6 million range. Continue reading ‘State is awarded major Exchange establishment grant’
Monthly Archive for May, 2011
Health insurers that ask for a price increase of 10 percent or more in the individual or small group markets will face scrutiny by federal officials under the newly finalized rate regulation announced last week by HHS. Continue reading ‘Federal rate review final regulations are issued’
Group Health and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) are finalizing a new affiliation that will broaden treatment options for our medical oncology patients served at Bellevue, Olympia, Seattle and Tacoma medical centers.
SCCA is a world-class cancer treatment center that unites doctors from Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, University of Washington Medicine, and Seattle Children’s. It invites affiliates that meet its high standards as a clinical partner. Continue reading ‘New cancer care affiliation broadens treatment options’
This month, Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) applauds two remarkable honors for Dr. Ed Wagner, our Institute’s founding director (1983–1998) who now heads GHRI’s MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation.
Ed was chosen to receive the 2011 William B. Graham Prize, the highest national recognition for health services researchers. (Among previous winners are Princeton’s Uwe Reinhardt, Dartmouth’s John Wennberg, Stanford’s Alain Enthoven, University of British Columbia’s Bob Evans, and Don Berwick, founder of the Institute for Health Improvement and acting leader of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.) Continue reading ‘Now’s the time: Award and endowment hail’
Passage of the health care reform law last year was a major wake-up call for health systems across the country. At Group Health, we were already wide awake, but its passage into law made it even clearer how large the stakes are.
As you know, we’ve been pushing hard for several years to reduce our medical expenses through innovations that inspire better health for our patients—with remarkable results: Our overall medical cost trends are lower than they’ve ever been. Our quality and patient satisfaction scores are on the rise. Our staff engagement scores have hit an all-time high. And our progress has given us unprecedented attention, around the region and across the country. We have a lot to be proud of. Continue reading ‘Innovation needs collaboration’
On March 31, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), issued the highly anticipated proposed rule under the Affordable Care Act to help doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers better coordinate care for Fee-For-Service Medicare patients through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Continue reading ‘Accountable Care Organization Proposed Rule’
The event to highlight the Partnership for Patients, a new initiative that will help save 60,000 lives by stopping millions of preventable injuries and complications in patient care over the next three years, got some great media coverage — check it out here to learn more about the effort.
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