1. The Latest on Accountable Communities of Health State of Reform Conference – January 7, 2016
With perspectives from:
Alison Carl-White, Better Health Together (backbone for the ACH region encompassing Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, and Stevens counties)
Janna Wilson, Public Health-Seattle & King County (backbone for the King County region ACH)
Doug Bowes, United Healthcare (involved in ACHs statewide and beyond)

2. Nine Accountable Community of Health Regions
Building from existing efforts
Working on common agendas for regional health improvement
Multi-sector governance (because many sectors influence health)
Six regions have achieved “designation” status from the WA Health Care Authority
More information at:

3. Although it varies from region to region, some common priority issues appear to be bubbling up at ACH tables. An informal round-up:
Access to coverage and care
Integrated care (physical, behavioral health, oral health + linkage to social services)
Complex care management; hot-spotting
Housing-health partnerships
Upstream work to prevent chronic disease / obesity
Efforts to address community and neighborhood conditions; economic opportunity
Plus the associated workforce needs (especially community health workers); data integration and sharing; measurement; health equity lens, & resource issues

4. Reflections on a few ACH “open questions”
There’s a lot of talk about how ACHs could advance population health. What does that mean from your vantage point, and what might it look like?
What happening (or should happen) at the intersection of ACHs and changing workforce needs to achieve the Triple Aim?
Advancing integrated care is a shared priority across ACHs. How’s that playing out so far? What could or should ACH groups be doing to accelerate this shift?