Jan. 23, 2006
King County Health Reform Initiative presented as solution to national problem of rising health care costs
Presentation will be available via webcast
King County Executive Ron Sims is sharing his successful model for healthcare reform with business and government leaders from across the nation and around the world at two important forums on healthcare in Washington D.C. this week. Sims' five-county, collaborative effort to control healthcare costs in the region through formation of the Puget Sound Health Alliance and his initiative to control King County employee benefit costs will be featured in presentations and on the Web.
Sims will be joined by Starbucks worldwide director of Benefits & Savings, Annette King in presentations before the World Health Congress, Wednesday, Jan. 25, at its Health & Human Workforce Conference. Sims is Chairman of the Board of the non-profit Puget Sound Health Alliance, which was formed as a result of his effort to work on the root causes of escalating healthcare costs. The Alliance is the only organization of its kind in the nation that is working to control costs through collective market forces and agreement to use evidence-based medicine as a way to control costs by improving the quality of care. More than 700,000 people are represented by the 80 businesses, health care providers, insurers and governments who are Alliance members.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, King County's innovative Health Reform Initiative is being presented by the Progressive Policy Institute as a national solution to the problem of high health care costs that are crippling the nation's economy. The institute is recommending the King County approach should be replicated regionally throughout the country and supported at the federal level through legislation.
King County's Healthy Incentives Program, which engages county employees in their health care decisions, was created to control the escalating costs of employee benefits instead of reducing benefits or increasing employee premiums or co-pays. The program gives incentives to encourage employees to adopt healthy habits such as regular exercise.
Sims' speech to the Progressive Policy Institute will be webcast by the Kaiser Family Foundation as part of its HealthCast series. It will be available Friday, Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. PST.
More information about the Puget Sound Health Alliance is available online. More information about the Executive's Health Reform Initiative is also available online. Also, Sims' speech to the World Health Congress is available.