At WSHA, we often talk about our goal of attaining the triple aim of health care: improving the quality of care and experience of the patient, increasing the health of the population, and ensuring viability for a strong health care delivery system. On June 29, Washington State will launch its first all-payer claims database (APCD), which will help us improve on these goals.
The APCD will gather claims information from Medicaid and commercial health care payers in our state to better track the cost and quality of care. State legislators initiated the database in 2015, calling for the state to contract for its construction. Oregon Health & Science University serves as the APCD’s administrator.
WSHA supported the legislation, and we believe the APCD can offer meaningful data to those working on health system reform in Washington State. In addition to its potential benefit to our own work on rural transformation and patient safety, it is likely to have benefits to our hospital members, our state’s accountable communities of health and our state’s government agencies. The launch will include a public website aimed to provide consumers with additional information on cost and quality by hospital.
We hope you are preparing for the launch at the end of the month, since we anticipate you may get questions from the media on the information displayed for your hospital. WSHA offered a webinar providing background information, and you can see the slides online. Let me know if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Claudia Sanders
WSHA Senior Vice President, Special Projects
claudias@wsha.org
