In 15 communities throughout the country, Aligning Forces for Quality seeks to lift the quality of health and health care by teaming up with those who get care, give care and pay for care. Explore what our communities are doing to improve health care quality.
Puget Sound, Washington
Seattle loves ... coffee, wild salmon and good health!
Leadership Team: The Puget Sound Health Alliance
Web site: www.pugetsoundhealthalliance.org
Phone: (206) 448-2570
Program contact: Diane Giese
Phone: (206) 448-2570, ext. 117
(206) 612-1004 (cell)
E-mail: diane@pugetsoundhealthalliance.org
Want to learn more? Download the Community Snapshot.
The Puget Sound Health Alliance (the Alliance) leads the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative in Seattle. The Alliance, an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in December 2004, is a regional partnership that combines the expertise of private and public employers, physicians, hospitals, consumers, health plans and other stakeholders. The Alliance covers the five counties that comprise the Puget Sound region: King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston. More than 50 consumers and 160 organizations have joined the Alliance thus far. The mission of the collaborative organization is to build a strong leadership network among these partners to promote health and high-quality health care.
The Alliance focuses on improving quality, affordability and efficiency while reducing the rate of health care cost increases caused by overuse, underuse and misuse of health care services. Its AF4Q work includes developing and promoting quality improvement strategies that provide key stakeholders with action steps for targeted clinical areas, in addition to providing resources and tools to enhance quality improvement efforts. The Alliance is also active in the consumer engagement arena, with activities including promoting health risk assessments and improving health literacy to help consumers understand and use health care quality information and make informed health care decisions. In 2008, the Alliance released its first two public "Community Checkup" reports on regional health care quality, which show results for 21 measures of care provided in 170 medical groups, plus results for about 40 hospitals. The results are online—searchable and sortable—at www.WACommunityCheckup.org. The Alliance expects to update the hospital results as often as quarterly, in addition to publishing updated and expanded results for medical groups at least once per year.
Areas/Population Served
In Washington: King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties
Aligning Forces for Quality communities
Our areas of focus
Aligning Forces for Quality applies a wealth of resources, expertise and training to effect real results in health care quality. Take a closer look at the focuses of our work:
Hear what colleagues and health care experts around the country, including Anne Snowden, Stephen Somers and Scott Cook, have learned about improving health care quality and reducing racial and ethnic disparities in care.