The Washington State Health Care Authority has named Group Health Cooperative to lead pilot projects to improve health care quality for Washingtonians. Group Health will lead an effort to bring a variety of health care providers from primary care doctors and physical therapists to surgeons and hospitals into an organized group that is collectively responsible for the health of each patient. This model of “integrated care” is one that has guided Group Health since its founding in 1947. It is seen by many as the answer to slowing down increasing costs by doing a better job of caring for each patient, avoiding unnecessary tests and treatments, emergency room visits and hospitalizations caused by lack of communication and coordination. (more…)
Group Health to lead state health care reform pilots
Group Health CEO Named One of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare
Scott Armstrong, Group Health President and CEO
This morning we woke up to the news that Scott Armstrong, Group Health’s President and CEO, was named #38 in Modern Health Care’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare. The list was topped with President Barack Obama in first place and followed by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebeliusl; and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
The magazine featured a great interview with Scott as he talked about Group Health being in the national spotlight and recognized for its innovative work to bring down costs of health care and providing quality care.
Excerpt from the article: (more…)
Pacific Science Center and Group Health team up for kids health
Pacific Science Center is developing an innovative and highly immersive new exhibit, Professor Wellbody’s Health & Wellness Academy, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2011. The center is working with Group Health to bring the Exhibit to life.
The exhibit guests will be encouraged to get their game on in the Fitness Play Zone, dodge flying particles at the Sneeze Wall, glimpse their future self with the interactive aging software and climb musical stairs to a second floor of discovery.
This is the Science Center’s first new permanent exhibit in more than (more…)
New board chair of Group Health
Rosemary Daszkiewicz, JD, Group Health Board Chair
Trustees from Group Health’s Board elected Rosemary Daszkiewicz,to serve as chair of the Group Health for the remainder of 2010.The former chair of the Cooperative, Bobbie Berkowitz RN, PhD, resigned this month to pursue a new job as head of the Columbia University School of Nursing.
Daszkiewicz, who manages legal and human resources as the senior director of Plum Creek Timber Co., originally joined the Board in 2003.
The Group Health Board of Trustees – made up of 11 active Group Health members, also elected Dorothy Ruzicki, PhD, RN, of Mead, Wash., to fill the vacant trustee position through the end of 2010. Porsche Everson, current board member in Seattle, was also named vice chair, the previous position held by Daszkiewicz.
For more information on the 2010 Group Health Board of Trustees candidates, go to www.ghc.org and search for “2010 Annual Membership Meeting.”
Meet Sounders FC starter this Saturday
Everyone’s invited to come meet Seattle Sounders FC starter Brad Evans this Saturday, June 19 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Group Health’s Bellevue Medical Center, 11511 NE 10th Street, Bellevue, WA 98004.
Bring your family and friends–and your Sounders or soccer gear for autographs.
Group Health is a presenting sponsor of Sounders FC Summer Youth Camps to promote soccer and a healthy, active lifestyle to kids all over Washington State. For more information about the camps, visit: http://www.soundersfc.com/Youth/Youth-Programs.aspx
Childhood obesity linked to neighborhood social and economic status
Seattle Children’s, UW, and Group Health study 8,000 King County children
Children in King County, Washington, are more likely to be obese if they live in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is according to a team of researchers at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, the University of Washington (UW), and Group Health Research Institute. Social Science & Medicine e-published the research this week in advance of printing it.
The researchers found obesity most common in children living in neighborhoods with the least-educated females, (more…)
Making a commitment to Haiti
Sunset as doctors return to the clinic
Group Health has developed a long-term volunteer program that will send clinicians to provide medical care in Haiti throughout the rest of 2010. Led by a different doctor each trip, Group Health’s goal is to sponsor two one-week trips per month. Volunteers include physicians, physician assistants, nurses and nurse practitioners, and lab and pharmacy personnel.
Don Van Nimwegen, MD, a retired Group Health anesthesiologist, will lead the pilot trip to Haiti leaving on June 12. Working with Healing the Children, the experienced medical relief doctor already spent three weeks in Haiti looking for ways to assist the devastated nation. He found a starting place—a tent encampment near Port-au-Prince.
Dr. Nimwegen told us, (more…)
Group Health Connects Blog
Group Health launched a new blog called Group Health Connects to support and connect all of the passionate Group Health staff and members who are active in the community. (more…)
WithinReach recognizes Group Health’s commitment to children’s health
Today, Group Health was awarded the 2010 Partnership award by WithinReach, a statewide organization that connects families to health and food resources. Group Health CEO Scott Armstrong accepted the award at WithinReach’s annual fundraiser.
Group Health was recognized for its leadership in promoting childhood immunizations and also for the continuing impact of its $2 million investment to increase children’s access to care which was made in 2007. WithinReach has been a key (more…)
Teens get special care at Group Health
The past year marked 21 years for Group Health Teen Health Services, which cares for teens through Group Health’s Adolescent Center and Adolescent Clinics, the Teen Pregnancy and Parenting Clinic, 7 school-based health centers, and other facilities and programs.
In its recently published 2009 annual report, Teen Health Services highlighted a number of its key accomplishments last year, including opening an Adolescent Clinic in Olympia, providing more than 11,000 patient visits through school-based health centers, and continuing its long-standing practice of mailing health education materials—“Totally Teen,” “Thriving with Your Teen,” and “Tips on Teen Health”—to all Group Health households with a 13-year-old teen.
The Adolescent Center provides treatment to tweens and teens aged 11 to 18 who are experiencing complex medical, social, academic, emotional, or behavioral issues. The Adolescent Center uses a multidisciplinary (more…)
