Washington's Action Plan

August 25, 2008

This article first appeared in the August/September 2008 issue of the newsletter "States in Action."

Like the teams in Massachusetts and Kansas, Washington State's SQII team is focusing on patient-centered medical homes. It has developed an Action Plan with three critical interventions:

  • create an operational definition of medical home in order to measure and improve medical home capacity;
  • develop reimbursement strategies to support providers in adopting a medical home model of patient-centered care; and
  • engage consumers and providers in participating in patient-centered medical homes.
For each of these interventions, the team has developed specific steps and a timetable. Many of these steps involve coordinating with other initiatives already in place in the state. By the end of the summer, the team expects to have reached consensus on an operational definition of a medical home and identified performance measures for medical homes and patient outcomes that can be demonstrated and rewarded.

Over the coming years, the state plans to evaluate data sources, performance indicators, reimbursement models, and ways to engage practitioners and consumers. As part of a broader health reform package, it plans to pilot a payment system that rewards providers who incorporate evidence-based practices and elements of patient-centered care by 2011.

"We're interested in models to effectively use resources to create medical homes that are more community-based," says team leader Maryanne Lindeblad, director of Washington's Division of Healthcare Services. She adds that the team looks forward to assistance from the Quality Institute in identifying best practices in reimbursement design, data sources, and ways to measure the effectiveness of patient-centered medical homes.

For More Information on Washington's SQII Activities
Contact: MaryAnne Lindeblad, B.S.N., M.P.H., Director, Division of Healthcare Services, Department of Social and Health Services - Health and Recovery Services Administration, (360) 725-1786, lindem@dshs.wa.gov