UW News

December 4, 2008

Health policy interests converge at annual confab

Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering

Curious about what health care issues legislators will tackle in the upcoming session? How likely is it that the federal government will enact a universal health care plan? Students, faculty, lawmakers, researchers, health plan administrators and others from across the state discussed these topics and more on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the 23rd annual Washington Health Legislative Conference.

Hosted by the Resource Center for Health Policy in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the conference drew more than 350 attendees who discussed enrolling kids in Medicaid, state budget and fiscal conditions, educating policymakers about education and health, and the use of consumer-centered technologies.


In the latter session, moderator and UW Assistant Professor Hector Rodriguez, Health Services, said organizations are increasingly turning to patient-centered tools with the aim of decreasing costs, empowering patients and cutting back on unnecessary services. Patient-centered tools can mean anything from an online personal health record to a health risk assessment tool that helps patients monitor what they’re doing correctly and where they can improve on their health and related habits.


Panelists Wendy Carr, AccessMyHealth.org, and Peggy Evans, Qualis Health, shared details on three state-guided pilot projects that will launch in January 2009 in Bellingham, Cashmere and Spokane. Carr said she envisions a tool that would allow parents access to immunization records if they lose that sheet of paper from the doctor’s office.


Dr. John Kashcko, physician lead of Informatics at Group Health Cooperative (GHC), said 50 percent of GHC patients (160,333 as of Nov. 3) now access their medical records online since the launch of MyGroupHealth in late 2000. The largest user groups include patients in their 40s, 50s and 60s, he added.


Diane Giese, Puget Sound Health Alliance, said the organization has worked to create a more consumer-friendly version of its Community Checkup report on health care facilities. Web users can drill down to the clinic level for specific quality indicators, and the Alliance has worked to simply language for patients who may not understand “ACE inhibitor” or “ARB for LSVD” (left ventricular systolic dysfunction). Giese said that on the Alliance site, that particular phrase has been simplified under the heading: “Medicines given to improve heart function.”


The Washington Health Foundation will take over the reins as main sponsor of the conference starting next year, announced UW Professor Cindy Watts, Health Services, and the Foundation’s Greg Vigdor, president and chief executive officer. Watts and her team from the Resource Center for Health Policy received a round of applause from attendees for many years of leadership in organizing and managing the conference.