Mission & Guiding Principles

Aligning Forces for Quality

Quality Improvement Strategy

Board of Directors

History

Staff

Employment & Volunteer Opportunities

Donations & Collaboration

Our View of Collaboration

Sources of Funding and Special Contributions

Opportunities to Collaborate with the Alliance

Board Policy on Funding, Contributions or Collaborative Programs

Our View of Collaboration

Collaboration is key to the Puget Sound Health Alliance. We are a multi-stakeholder, voluntary, non-profit organization that encourages everyone in the community to work together to improve health care quality and affordability.

The Alliance provides recommendations, reports and other information to create value for our participants and for the community as a whole. Everyone is welcome, click here to find out how to join.

Trust and credibility is essential to our effectiveness, as our success depends on the willingness of doctors, hospitals, health plans, employers, consumers and others to each do their part to help improve health care. To earn that trust, credibility and willingness to participate, the Alliance:

• Actively encourages everyone to join and to contribute to improving health care quality that results in healthier people and greater value.

• Seeks out the perspectives of all stakeholders and draws from that information to develop practical and effective approaches to improving health care.

• Recognizes that improving health care is a shared responsibility, with each of us having a role in making informed decisions that result in healthier people and better health care value.

• Stays focused on achieving our shared goals, to ensure that we provide value to Alliance participants and the community as a whole.

• Remains committed to being voluntary, non-partisan, and independent from any commercial interest.

Back to Top

Sources of Funding and Special Contributions

Funding for the Alliance comes from annual participation fees paid by every organization and individual who chooses to join the Alliance. We also receive financial contributions and grants that are unrestricted or dedicated to one or more program priority areas of the Alliance. Fortunately, in addition to hundreds of volunteer hours donated to the Alliance by more than 150 community leaders from health care and business, and as consumers, the Alliance has received grants, special funding (above and beyond the annual participation fee) and donated goods from several organizations, including:

• Conner Remodeling & Design, Inc.
  
• First Choice Health
  
• King County

• Merck & Company, Inc.
  
• Microsoft
  
• OneHealthPort

• Port Blakely Companies
  
• Qualis Health

• REI
  
• Regence Blue Shield
  
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation / Aligning Forces for Quality
  
• Washington State Department of Health
  
• Washington State Health Care Authority
  
• (See how your organization’s name can be here)

Special thanks to one and all!

Note: We do not accept funding or other donations that give special preference, consideration, treatment, or value that provides commercial benefit to any individual, organization or segment of any industry. See the Alliance Policy on Funding, Contributions or Collaborative Programs Involving Commercial Interests.

Back to Top

Opportunities to Collaborate with the Alliance

The Alliance has received tremendous leadership, financial and in-kind support from the local community and from statewide and national organizations. Our aggressive work plan reflects the Board’s shared commitment to take bold action to improve health care quality and affordability. Staying focused on that work plan is critical to our success.

Many projects and activities can help improve health care quality, affordability and value; however, to achieve our work plan goals, the Alliance is interested in working with others to secure additional funding or in-kind donations for specific projects or activities, such as:

A. REGIONAL REPORTS ON CLINIC AND HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE.

1. Funding to support the continued collection, aggregation and analysis of claims and other relevant data from self-insured employers, health plans, union trusts and other suppliers.
   
   
2. Funding for one or more pilot projects that aggregate EMR or disease registry data from medical clinics or practices for use in quality and efficiency measurement and reporting.
   
   
3. Funding for production, printing and distribution of the Community Checkup report, twice per year, to the public on the performance of clinics and hospitals in the region.
   
   
4. Funding or donated services to increase consumer awareness and use of the Community Checkup report (e.g., a multi-pronged broad based communication effort that may include announcements in print, TV, radio or other venues).

B. ADOPTION OF HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

1. Funding to be distributed by the Washington Health Information Collaborative in awards (grants) to medical practices and hospitals to adopt or help implement EMRs, registries, PHRs, interoperability, etc.
   
   
2. In-kind services or other programmatic support to assist in the administration of the WA Health IT awards from the Washington Health Information Collaborative.
   
   
3. Other programs to motivate physicians, hospitals, other providers, and consumers to increase use of health information technology (electronic medical records, registries, personal health records, etc.).
   

C. PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH AND EFFECTIVE, HIGH VALUE CARE.

1. Outreach programs to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use, as recommended in the Alliance RX Clinical Improvement Team Report.
   
   
2. Outreach programs to promote use of generics to treat health conditions, particularly in the areas identified in the Alliance RX Clinical Improvement Team Report.
   
   
3. Materials and/or programs that improve patient adherence with physicians’ recommendations for better self-management of chronic conditions, as described in the Alliance Clinical Improvement Team reports.
   
   
4. Funding to support production and distribution of a health promotion newsletter, to include Alliance content plus standard content from an established and reputable producer of personal health newsletters, to be made available to Alliance members to share with their employees (estimated cost: $25,000 per year).
   
   
5. Consumer-oriented materials and/or programs to promote preventive care and other services that reduce health risk, such as smoking cessation, immunizations, and weight reduction.

D. ALLIANCE COMMUNICATION.

1. Donated services or funding for opinion research with consumers, providers and others to shape and refine Alliance messages, materials, and outreach strategies.
   
   
2. Services or funding to increase outreach to encourage more organizations from all stakeholder groups to join the Alliance and get involved in coordinated efforts to improve health care quality and value across the community.
   

If you or your organization would like to collaborate with the Alliance by donating resources (funding, materials, goods or services) to support one or more of the projects listed above, please email a brief description, addressing the seven items listed below, to: Diane Giese, Director of Communication and Development, at diane@pugetsoundhealthalliance.org

In the brief description, please include this information:

1. Which work plan item are you proposing to support? (please refer to the specific, numbered item as listed above)
   
2. Who is the target audience(s)?
   
3. What are the activities or methods (what will be done, who does the work)?
   
4. What are the materials to be used (description, who produces them, how they will be distributed, how they will be used)?
   
5. What is the history (has this been done before, where, to what effect)? What indicates that the suggested approach or program will be effective?
   
6. What financial support will be provided (proposed amount, timeframe, other parameters)? Is financial support needed from others?
   
7. What would be expected of the Alliance for this proposed program or project (specific activities, staff time, other resources if any)?

Thank you for considering this.

We appreciate all offers of collaboration and support!

NOTE: Due to the need to focus and limited staff time, we are not able to commit to select any proposals within certain timeframes (or at all). Any selections made will be done in accordance with the Board Policy on Collaboration and at the sole discretion of the Alliance. Preference will be given to proposals that most efficiently meet the needs of Alliance for our priority projects, with a minimum of oversight from Alliance staff while maximizing the value to the collaborative effort and to the community at large.

Back to Top