Imagine a state where everyone
had a personal connection and easy access to the medical care they need, and
where the care was coherent, coordinated and focused. That is the stated goal
of the Washington State Health Care Innovation Plan, according to Karen
Merrikin, the new administrator of the plan, who came to Bellingham to meet
with interested leaders in our health care community on October 17. She told the group, “Our current health care
system too often provides high-cost, low-value health care and our goal is to
collaborate with payers and providers toward health system transformation that delivers
reliable, higher-value, lower-cost care in Washington State.”
How to make that happen? The Washington
State Health Care Innovation is a five year plan to use the purchasing power of
the state to align incentives across all areas of health care delivery for care
purchased or administered by the State of Washington. These are the tools she
identified:
- Basic infrastructure to manage care
- Aligned quality incentives
- Aligned payment incentives tied to outcomes
- Support for primary care practice transformation, to achieve the patient centered medical home
- Strengthened health IT
- A modernized work force to meet current needs, with emphasis on primary care and behavioral health
- New tools for people to understand and access care
- Local accountability for organizing and delivering care, based in the community. An example would be our local Whatcom Alliance for Health Care Advancement (WAHA).
In order to achieve the above
goals, Merrikin described a new organizational structure, with the state divided into 7 to 9 regional
zones. The NW Washington region would contain Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan
and Snohomish counties. Medicaid administration would move to these areas.
Other features would include a community health organization (ACHO), and an embedded
regional extension center to support needed practice transformation activities.
Key state supports would also be aligned to the region, and a transformation
trust fund is envisioned to support training and innovation.
Remaining key questions include “how
will the savings be re-invested”?
The draft plan will be presented
at the beginning of November, feedback will be solicited through mid-November
and the final plan will be finished December 31.
