I spent the last three months on maternity leave getting to know my daughter. She came into the world like most babies, unwillingly leaving behind a nicer, easier place for the cold and the bright of a hospital room. I can’t say that my first thoughts were of how the health policies we create now…
Suicide is a preventable, public health issue. This is the framework from which our workgroup aims to develop standards for Suicide Prevention. We have been meeting since February, you can see our focus areas in our charter, and we welcome you to join us this month on April 12th. One topic that has come up…
Health Affairs’ blog recently published America’s “NICE”? discussing whether the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is becoming our country’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). ICER was founded in 2006 as “an independent and non-partisan research organization that objectively evaluates the clinical and economic value of prescription drugs, medical tests, and…
Since January 2017, the Bree Collaborative’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias workgroup has been compiling recommendations to align care delivery for patients, as well as families and caregivers, with best practices using existing evidence-based standard of care for diagnosis, treatment, supportive care, transitions of care, delirium, and advance care planning. One of the most common…
This month I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Keith Wailoo, Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University, when he spoke at the University of Washington Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine’s annual lecture. Dr. Wailoo spoke about his book, Pain: A Political History, giving a historical perspective of our nation’s…
Every year our members select new topics. This is an exciting time for our Collaborative – a chance to look back at our previous work and to think about how we can continue to help improve health care quality, outcomes, and affordability in our community. We will start our conversation on new topics at our…
The Bree Collaborative develops bundled payments or episodes of care in our Accountable Payment Models workgroup – we are currently re-reviewing our Total Knee and Total Hip Replacement Bundle and Warranty and invite you to be a part of this conversation here. The Health Care Authority is also working to transform our health care system. In…
At the Bree Collaborative we talk a lot about health care procedures that we don’t need – that don’t make us any healthier and may in fact hurt us. A recent Atlantic article on the epidemic of unnecessary treatment, When Evidence Says No, but Doctors Say Yes, is an excellent study of overused treatments and…
One of my favorite movies is Groundhog Day. Bill Murray is hilarious and thought-provoking as a weatherman cursed to re-live February second over and over until he can learn to be a better person. Perhaps this is a lesson for all of us in self-improvement, paying attention to our community, colleagues, and neighbors, and making…
Opioid addiction is driving the drug overdoses which are claiming too many lives in the US. In 2015 alone, 718 people in Washington state died from opioid-related overdoses. The epidemic is growing quickly, devastating Washington families and communities. There are many factors driving this crisis and nobody can solve it alone. Together the Washington Health…
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