Carrum Health and the Washington Health Alliance today announced a strategic partnership to help Washington employers reduce their healthcare spend while gaining access to top quality care for their employees.

The Alliance’s members can now tap Carrum’s rigorously vetted value-based Centers of Excellence (COE) network of providers for complex, high cost surgical and cancer care. 

The partnership offers the state’s employers a boon in a macroeconomic environment where soaring healthcare costs place additional pressures on self-insured employers looking to contain costs while improving health outcomes for their employee populations.

Learn more about the partnership with Carrum Health.

Patient safety is essential to providing high-quality, high-value care in Washington. As an organization committed to quality, safe care in Washington state, the Alliance supports legislative efforts to establish a National Patient Safety Board. 

This Patient Safety Awareness Week, U.S. Reps. Nanette Barragán, CA-44, and Dr. Michael Burgess, TX-26, introduced legislation to create an independent, nonpunitive panel under the federal Department of Health and Human Services solely focused on patient safety.

Learn more about the National Patient Safety Board Legislation.

Seattle Unity, 8th Avenue in Seattle from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 15

This event is free for Alliance members and $35 for non-members.

For health care purchasers (employers and union trusts), there’s no better time than now to demand transparency and renegotiate contracts.

Through this educational forum, attendees will learn:

• Outcomes from a report currently in process by 3 Axis Advisors using pharmacy and self-insured data within Washington state.
• How the transparent report can inform individual actions by purchasers and potential collective actions to purchase pharmacy benefits and influence policy to improve access and affordability.
• Success stories from purchasers in getting the right price for drugs.

While the event will be held in person in Seattle, a virtual option is available. Lunch will be provided to those who attend.

Seattle Unity, 8th Avenue in Seattle from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 15

This event is free for Alliance members and $35 for non-members.

Private insurance spending per member grew by 61.6% from 2008 to 2022.

“Generally speaking, private insurance pay higher prices for healthcare than Medicare and Medicaid.” (Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker 2024). How much of this growth is driven by disproportionate hospital costs compared to Medicare rates?

The Washington Health Alliance will answer this question and more during this forum.

Attendees will come away with:

• Opportunities to manage inpatient/outpatient spending.
• Insights into and recommendations for risk management of high-cost claims including cell & gene therapy.
• How shifting spend to primary care can improve your population’s health outcomes.
• Where employers are investing in their healthcare benefits and the return they’re receiving.

While the event will be held in person in Seattle, a virtual option is available. Lunch will be provided to those who attend.

A message from our member:

SEIU 775 Benefits Group, based in Seattle, is hiring a Director of Plan Purchasing and Performance.

Information about the position and how to apply can be found through the job posting.

Our members and supporters can be the best ambassadors for our work. If you know someone who would like to learn more about membership in the Alliance, contact Denise Giambalvo, Director of Member Engagement & Business Strategy, at dgiambalvo@wahealthalliance.org.