Spotlight on Washington
Thursday, May 29, 2014
 
Washington State

Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s signature effort to lift the quality of health care in 16 diverse communities, reduce racial and ethnic disparities and provide models for national reform. AF4Q brings together people who get care, give care and pay for care to work together toward the shared goal of better health and health care.

Today's issue of Spotlight features the work and successes of AF4Q's Washington Alliance

 
The Long Road to Lower Health Care Costs

Health care leaders in Washington State have been working for over a decade to rein in rising health care spending. The Washington Health Alliance has made strong progress toward transparency in quality reporting. Increasing price transparency may be the key to stopping, or even reversing, the trend of increasing health care costs in the state.

At the same time, the Washington Health Alliance has focused on identifying value in terms of patient experience, quality, and price. The Alliance has published several comprehensive reports, called “Community Checkups,” that give comparative data on health plans and provider organizations. They show how each medical practice stacks up on a variety of measures, such as diabetes care, prevention, avoidance of unnecessary imaging and use of antibiotics, and patient experience. Hospitals are evaluated on how they perform on care, for conditions including pneumonia and heart failure. Efforts are producing healthier communities and substantial cost savings. Read more here.

 
Consumer Voices Matter

In February 2014, the Washington Health Alliance released the results of its second patient experience survey, which measures patients’ experiences with local primary care providers. Known as Your Voice Matters, this initiative offers important insights to understanding the quality of care in the region.

Patient experience refers to what happens to people when they are interacting with the health care system and seeking to have their needs met. Research shows that, in addition to being a factor that is highly valued by patients and their families, patient experience is also positively correlated with improved clinical outcomes.

 
Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care and provide models for national reform. Alliance teams represent the people who get care, give care, and pay for care.
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