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	Dec. 18, 2003 Sims announces Health Care Advisory Task Force King County Executive Ron Sims today announced the formation of a Health Care Advisory Task (HAT) Force that will recommend an innovative and achievable set of strategies to improve the quality of health care while potentially saving millions of dollars. “King County, like many employers is facing an urgent need to effectively contain the rise in employee health care costs,” said Sims in announcing his task force. “It is expected these costs will increase at 15 percent or more per year for at least five more years. The challenge before us is to find a 21st Century model to provide quality care while managing the spiraling costs of health care. “I refuse to accept the proposition that the only answer to ensuring affordable quality health care is to decide who pays more, the employees or the employer,” said Sims. “We will follow the lead of the medical community in looking at a quality, cost effective health care system that is patient centered.” Sims said King County’s costs alone will double from $124 million in 2003 to $249 million in 2008. A one percent reduction in the cost growth trend over the next five years could save $27 million, a three percent reduction could save $79 million and a five percent reduction could save $128 million. “Our goal is not to just look at what our own costs are, but to look as well outside traditional approaches to employee benefits to find innovative ways to balance meeting employee health care needs and the need to control costs,” Sims added. “The pathways and improved strategies we examine in these conversations will hopefully result in a health care system with outcomes that benefit health care, the region, employees and the bottom line. “We are pulling together people with specific expertise in the issues we want to explore to help us devise strategies that will work. We will be looking at the best way to address the health care crisis in a manner that is cost effective and ensures quality health care for our employees because we value both. Our goal is to work together to achieve both,” said Sims. King County also runs regional public health services, making it unique in that it is both a consumer and provider of health care. As in previous task forces Sims has pulled together — the Metropolitan Parks Task Force, the Budget Advisory Task Force and the recently announced Citizens’ Commission on Regional Human Services — Sims has asked experts to take an in depth look at best business practices as they have done in each of these critical areas. The Health Care Advisory Task Force is one more example of bringing experts to the table to tackle key issues. The health care group will have its first working meeting Jan. 12, 2004. This panel is comprised of University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center physicians, pharmaceutical experts, labor representatives, health care attorneys, disease management experts, major self-employed employers in the region and experts in health care policy, quality outcome, evidence based medicine, communications and technology. The panel’s task between now and February 2004 will be to examine King County’s health care cost containment strategies and determine if the problem has been accurately defined and if the strategies to improve quality of care and cost containment in its own plans are realistic and achievable. The second phase, concluding with a final report in June 2004, will examine ways to improve employee health care and the quality of health care available in the local market by purchasing effective evidence based care and to partner with other public and private employees to develop health care consumer education programs and decision tools, agree on a uniform set of health care quality outcomes and encourage providers to participate in plans that produce high quality outcome. To accomplish this, the goal of the Health Care Advisory Task Force will be to make recommendations for: Creating a process to determine health care quality and cost outcomes and a way to measure and improve performance; Identify a process to share performance information for all levels of care; Encourage providers to participate in plans that reward high quality, cost effective care; Promote consumer understanding and use of the performance measures and shared decision making tools for their work; and Reinforce and reward provider and patient focus on wellness, disease management and active participation in health care decisions. View the complete membership of the committee, as announced by Sims, on the Health Care Advisory Task Force Web site. Updated: Dec. 18, 2003 Executive's home Executive's news Executive's site map | E-mail the Executive King County | Executive | News | Services | Comments | Search Links to external sites do not constitute endorsements by King County. 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