Gov. Christine Gregoire this week named WSU Regent Steven R. Hill as administrator of the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA).
Gregoire said she has asked Hill to lead a team that will take a coordinated, statewide approach to corralling health costs. In particular, she wants them to examine:
* Making more effective use of information technology so paper-based recordkeeping can be eliminated.
* Providing incentives for consumers so they will be more inclined to compare the prices or quality of clinical services they receive.
* Promoting prevention by taking advantage of opportunities to educate people about how to prevent health problems.
* Improving disease management by early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and obesity that cost a lot more to treat in more advanced stages.
* Building on the excellent work of the Puget Sound Health Alliance by improving the quality of data on treatments, technologies and outcomes so better and more effective health services can be purchased, measured and tracked.
* Encouraging the federal government to allow innovation in the Medicaid program so the state can make better use of both state Medicaid dollars and federal matching funds.
Hill retired from Weyerhaeuser Co. where, as senior vice president of human resources, he led wellness efforts for thousands of employees and worked to contain the company’s health-care costs. He is a former White House Fellow and served as a staff assistant in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. Most recently, he was a consultant with Mercer Human Resources.
Hill helped form, and served as president, of the Health Care Purchasers of Puget Sound, a group representing employers who sponsor health-care insurance. He also has served on the state’s Hospital Rate Setting Commission.
