Washington

Washington has long embraced the PCMH model of care delivery through both private and public sector initiatives. Beginning in the 1990's, partnerships between pediatricians, families, and the Washington State Department of Health Children with Special Health Care Needs Program were established to build the concepts of the medical home into primary care pediatric practices. In 2008, the Substitute House Bill 2549 authorized the creation of the state's first medical home learning collaborative for qualified primary care practices serving children and adults.  Substitute Senate Bill 5891 established several medical home reimbursement pilot projects including a multi-payer medical home demonstration project.  State law, Chapter 48.150 RCW, specifies that a direct primary care medical home must be integrated with an issuer’s Qualified Health Plan (QHP). If a QHP filing contains a direct primary care medical home, then the Health Benefit Exchange will recognize the Office of Insurance Commissioner’s approval of the plan to confirm that the medical home is integrated with the QHP.

The HealthPath Washington partnership between the State of Washington and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid has decided to discontinue implementation of the capitated managed care project. This project was created to integrate medical, behavioral health, and long term services so that benefits could be delivered through managed care organizations.

The Washington Healthcare Improvement Network (WHIN) offers services to primary care clinicians and practice teams to develop health/medical homes, manage care for patients with multiple chronic conditions and improve care transitions. WHIN also serves:

  • Behavioral health teams that plan to collaborate with primary care.
  • Care/case managers or coordinators who are part of a health/medical home team.
  • Pharmacists that plan to collaborate with primary care.
  • Naturopathic doctors and consultant specialty providers on a case-by-case basis.
CHIPRA: 
No
MAPCP: 
No
Dual Eligible: 
No
2703 Health Home: 
Yes
CPCi: 
No
SIM Awards: 
Yes
PCMH in QHP: 
Yes
Legislative PCMH Initiative: 
Yes
Private Payer Program: 
Yes
State Facts: 
Population:
6,862,300
Uninsured Population:
11%
Total Medicaid Spending FY 2013: 
$8.2 Billion 
Overweight/Obese Adults:
61.4%
Poor Mental Health among Adults: 
37.3%
Medicaid Expansion: 
Yes 

This Startup Just Got Approval to Diagnose Your Sniffles Via Text Chat

In mid-April I decided to do something I hadn't done in years: see a doctor. My cough had gotten so bad that I couldn't avoid it any longer. After work, I walked into my local urgent care center for the first time and filled out some paperwork.

News Author: 
Kevin J. Ryan

Can Amazon cut Insurers out of primary care?

t’s the stuff disruptors dream of. A group of Seattle doctors and investors had a plan to revolutionize primary care by freeing themselves, and their patients, from the dictates of insurance. They would charge a monthly membership fee for delivering on-demand medical services. No insurance bureaucracy. No reimbursement delays. No incomprehensible bills.

News Author: 
Casey Ross

Amazon made another bold move into healthcare that went relatively unnoticed

Amazon expanded into the Medicaid market by announcing that it will offer beneficiaries a Prime membership of $5.99 a month, a discount of 54 percent. And while that revelation last week may not have raised quite as many eyebrows as the company's blockbuster partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase it holds the potential to have a major impact sooner. 

News Author: 
Susan Morse

A Health Plan ‘Down Payment’ Is One Way States Try Retooling Individual Mandate

As President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans tirelessly try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a number of states are scrambling to enact laws that safeguard its central provisions.

The GOP tax plan approved by Congress in the last days of 2017 repealed the ACA penalty for people who fail to carry health insurance, a provision called the “individual mandate.” On Jan. 30, in Trump’s first State of the Union address, he claimed victory in killing off this part of the health law, saying Obamacare was effectively dead without it.

News Author: 
Rachel Bluth

Unnecessary Medical Care: More Common Than You Might Imagine

It's one of the intractable financial boondoggles of the U.S. health care system: Lots and lots of patients get lots and lots of tests and procedures that they don't need.

News Author: 
Marshall Allen

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Disrupt Health Care

SEATTLE — In a sign of just how fed up corporate America is with the country’s expensive and often confusing health care system, three behemoths — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase — announced on Tuesday that they would form an independent health care company for their employees in the United States.

News Author: 
Nick Wingfield, Katie Thomas, and Reed Abelson

Harborview Medical Center

Practice Type: 
Not-for-profit practice
Practice Setting: 
Urban
Practice Address: 
410 Ninth Ave
Box 359938
Seattle, WA 98104

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Harborview Medical Center is owned by King County, g​overned by a county-appointed board of trustees and managed by the University of Washington. UW Medicine physicians, staff and other healthcare professionals based at Harborview serve patients from all walks of life in world-class centers of emphasis and also serve a mission population for King County.

PTN - Washington Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative – Pediatrics (TCPI-P)

The Washington Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative - Pediatrics (TCPI-P) assists clinicians and their care teams in changing the way they deliver care to provide coordinated and family centered, high quality and cost effective care for children.

Group Health Cooperative to Join Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente and Group Health Cooperative announced today they have signed a definitive agreement for Kaiser Permanente to acquire Seattle-based Group Health. The combination will advance the growth of the integrated model for health care and coverage together and expand Kaiser Permanente’s reach, adding nearly 590,000 members.

Some state workers to see new option for health-care coverage

An approach to health care that supporters tout as better quality for a lower price will be offered to some Washington state employees beginning next year.

The Washington state Health Care Authority, the agency that manages benefits for public workers through the Public Employee Benefits Board (PEBB), has signed deals with the UW Medicine Accountable Care Network and the Puget Sound High Value Network to provide coverage to PEBB members.

News Author: 
Lisa Stiffler

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