Washington is working to lower health care costs and increase transparency. This new resource explains how.

Washington State Health Care Authority sent this bulletin at 06/07/2022 01:45 PM PDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

Washington is working to lower health care costs and increase transparency. This new resource explains how.

The Health Care Authority (HCA), which oversees and supports the Health Care Cost Transparency Board, just released a frequently asked questions (FAQ) resource. This FAQ provides a high-level and more simplified look at:

The board
The Data Issues and Health Care Providers and Carriers advisory committees
The health care cost benchmark and how it works
How our state, health insurance carriers, and health care providers are held accountable to lowering costs
How Washington and other states are moving toward lowering health care costs

View the FAQ.

Other updates

Beginning this year, health insurance carriers are responsible for staying at or under the benchmark. The board will soon be asking carriers to provide “pre-benchmark” performance data on total health care spending for 2017, 2018, and 2019. This data will help the board establish a baseline for measuring future cost growth in spending.

In 2023, carriers will provide data for the first benchmark year (2022).

The benchmark is a specific rate of growth that carriers and providers should try to stay under to make health care more affordable for patients. The board will compare a carrier’s annual rate of health care spending growth in Washington State against this benchmark:

Table 1: benchmark for 2022–2026

Calendar year	Cost growth benchmark values
2022	3.2%
2023	3.2%
2024	3.0%
2025	3.0%
2026	2.8%

To learn more, visit our board page, which includes past announcements.

About the Health Care Authority (HCA)

The Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) is committed to whole-person care, integrating physical health and behavioral health services for better results and healthier residents.

HCA purchases health care for more than 2.5 million Washington residents through Apple Health (Medicaid), the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) Program, the School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) Program, and the COFA Islander Health Care Program. As the largest health care purchaser in the state, we lead the effort to transform health care, helping ensure Washington residents have access to better health and better care at a lower cost.

Please do not reply directly to this message. For more information, visit the HCA website, where you'll also find contact information.

Disclosure notice

All messages we send via GovDelivery are subject to public disclosure, as are the names and email addresses of those who sign up for email notifications.

Nondiscrimination

The Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) complies with all applicable federal and Washington state civil rights laws and is committed to providing equal access to our services. Visit HCA’s website to view complete nondiscrimination statements.