January monthly newsletter: A new year brings new listening tour, webinars and infographic

Washington State Health Care Authority sent this bulletin at 01/20/2017 11:38 AM PST
HWLogo

Better Health. Better Care. Lower Costs.

January 20, 2017

Next Healthier Washington quarterly webinar to quantify the Triple Aim

The overarching goals of Healthier Washington are to achieve better health, better, care, and lower costs. The first quarterly webinar of 2017 will explore how we will know when we’ve reached those goals.

“Reflections on rapid-cycle improvement is part of what we do, evaluating the extent in which the state innovation model (SIM) achieves the Triple Aim. Did we move the needle in a good direction?” said Doug Conrad, PhD., professor of Health Services at the University of Washington.

Conrad is leading the team that will evaluate the progress of Healthier Washington’s SIM work, and will describe the tactics involved during the next Healthier Washington quarterly webinar. The webinar is scheduled for Monday, February 13, 2017, 2 to 3 p.m. Register to join the webinar. 

A note from the Director

Dorothy

The start of a new year often symbolizes new beginnings. This is especially true with the launch of a five-year Medicaid transformation demonstration. This is an opportunity for our state—under the leadership of Gov. Jay Inslee and in partnership with the Department of Social and Health Services—to make significant investments in innovative improvements as we serve Apple Health clients.

Immediate next steps for the demonstration include:

Engagement with our partners has been, and will continue to be a fundamental part of the way we operate and certainly key to our success. We look forward to visiting your cities and gathering your thoughts and ideas. 

What is Healthier Washington?

infographic

Have you ever been curious to know how all the different parts in Healthier Washington are working together to transform the health system? We are excited to release a new infographic that shows those connections.

This graphic illustrates different variations of what a community may look like, and shows their relation to the project areas within Healthier Washington. Underneath each goal are the different tactics and strategies we're using to achieve the triple aim of better health, better care, and lower costs.

You can find the infographic on our website.

Payment Redesign

PaymentLogo

Two Washington State health care providers have signed on to test two demonstrations (one urban and one rural) of a new integrated model of care through a Healthier Washington payment redesign model.

The Greater Washington Multi-payer payment model helps increase providers’ access to patient data across multiple payers and providers, and aligns quality measures used to assess provider performance. This help providers transition into value-based payment arrangements. To read the full announcement, please read the news release.

To learn more about HCA’s role in moving the state’s health care purchasing to value, view the Value-based Road Map.

Practice Transformation

TransformationIcon

The Practice Transformation Support Hub is offering primary care and behavioral health providers across the state help to successfully transition to a new model of payment and health care integration. In January the Hub hosted its first educational webinar of the new year, featuring guest speakers Jürgen Unützer, MD, director of the AIMS Center, and Jeff Hummel, MD, medical director of Qualis Health. Additional educational webinars and trainings will be announced once they are scheduled.

To learn more about the Practice Transformation Support Hub, contact the Hub Help Desk: (206) 288-2540 or (800) 949-7536 ext. 2540 or email HubHelpDesk@qualishealth.org.

The Practice Transformation Hub will support local quality improvement efforts by connecting health care providers with tools, training, and hands-on technical assistance to address the needs of the whole person. 

Shared Decision Making

sdm

The Health Care Authority is now accepting submissions to certify a second round of patient decision aids. This submission period will close March 31, 2017. Patient decision aids (PDAs) are tools that can help people engage in shared health decisions with their health care provider. Find out more about PDAs.

The state is fully integrating the financing and delivery of physical health, mental health, and chemical dependency services in the Medicaid program through managed health care.