Feb. 11, 2005

Six new members join Puget Sound Health Alliance

Pierce County, Qualis Health, Foundation for Health Care Quality, Pacific Medical Centers, Dr. Dunbar and King County Medical Society join

Six new members today announced they will join the Puget Sound Health Alliance (PSHA), a group committed to improving the quality, efficiency and costs of health care delivery in the Puget Sound area. The Alliance was initiated by King County Executive Ron Sims with the goal of members working together to increase the quality of health care while reducing costs. Membership ranges from some of the region's largest corporations, governments and health care providers to small businesses and individual practitioners in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap Counties.

New members include Pierce County, Qualis Health, the Foundation for Health Care Quality, Peter Dunbar, MD, Pacific Medical Centers and the King County Medical Society. Their addition brings to 315,000 the number of insured individuals now represented by the Alliance.

The Alliance is the outgrowth of Sims' Health Advisory Task Force, which last year recommended a collaborative regional system be established to harness the collective strength and knowledge of the region and its employers to improve quality of health care and hold down its costs.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for business and government to come together in tackling one of the most difficult problems facing us all, health coverage," said Lyle Quasim, Pierce County Executive's Chief of Staff.

Pacific Medical Centers Chief Executive Officer, Harvey Smith, said, "Pacific Medical Centers is focused on improving quality and efficiency in healthcare and we believe this alliance presents a significant opportunity for our community to make improvements in the health and healthcare of our citizens. We serve many different constituents in the healthcare arena including commercially insured patients as well as underserved populations. We believe that this alliance of community and business leaders can be a powerful change agent to ensure quality of care to all."

"The Foundation for Health Care Quality salutes the Alliance's commitment to adopting evidence-based standards through a collaborative model as an early step to improved quality care," said Andy Fallat, President and CEO. "The Alliance's commitment to standardizing data collection across the region has been tested and proven effective in the Foundation's experience with cardiac surgery data repositories."

"As an organization whose very existence is based on helping to improve health care quality, we are delighted to join the PSHA," said Jonathan Sugarman, President and CEO of Qualis Health. "We are enthusiastic about this regional effort by employers, consumers, and providers to agree upon what constitutes excellent health care, and to improve the ability of the system to provide that care at a reasonable cost."

In addition to the new members announced today, current Puget Sound Health Alliance participants include King County, Starbucks, Washington Mutual, State of Washington, Group Health Cooperative, City of Seattle, Puget Sound Energy, Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle Surgery Center, Regence BlueShield, Community Health Plan of Washington, Hope Heart Institute, The Polyclinic, and Port Blakely Companies.

With its 315,000 insured individuals in the four county-Puget Sound region, the Alliance will use its collective clinical expertise and performance measurement systems to align health care financing and delivery systems in a way that everyone in the Puget Sound region will benefit.

The organization's goals are to: improve the quality of care; slow the rate of increase in health care expenditures in the Puget Sound region; improve the health outcomes for people; improve consumers' and health care professionals' ability to become partners in managing health; and ensure collaborative decision-making based on evidence.

Please contact Rachel Quinn, at 206-296-4165 for more information about the Puget Sound Health Alliance.