Introduction

What is the Community Checkup?

The Community Checkup is the umbrella under which the Washington Health Alliance (Alliance) releases all of its public reports on the quality of health care in Washington state, including the Community Checkup report. In addition, the Community Checkup encompasses a broad range of reports that rely upon the Alliance’s data for analysis.

The 2024 Community Checkup annual report reflects:

• Care provided to approximately 4.5 million people in Washington state.
• 66 measures of health care value in the state-sponsored Common Measure Set for Health Care Quality and Cost.
• Data supplied by more than 27 health plans, self-insured employers and union trusts, as well as Washington state agencies.

How is the Community Checkup created?

Assembling the measure results is a multi-step process that includes the following: 

 

Data Submission and Validation

Data suppliers submit claims and encounter data to Milliman, our data vendor. The Alliance and Milliman work directly with data suppliers to validate the data submitted and the initial performance results.

Update of the Alliance Medical Group Roster 

Medical groups update their practice locations and the list of providers who practice at them. The Alliance uses this information to develop a comprehensive list of providers by clinic location that is needed to accurately report results by clinic and medical group.

Measure Calculation

Milliman removes information that identifies patients to ensure privacy, and then combines all the data and calculates measure results.

Attribution of Results to Providers

Milliman attributes results to providers based on the following methods:

• Primary care measures: Primary care provider (PCP) who provided the most care to the patient over the prior two-year period. This is called "PCP attribution."
• Generic prescribing measures: Provider who prescribed medication.
• Specific condition measures: All providers with primary care or specialties related to the condition who cared for the patient over the prior two-year period. This is sometimes called “Team attribution.”

Medical Group Review of Draft Results

The Alliance runs medical group and clinic results and posts them to a secure online portal. Medical groups access and review their draft results via the secure portal and notify the Alliance of any potential data issues.

Measure Results Finalized

The Alliance, Milliman, and the medical groups resolve any data issues in order to finalize the dataset and run final results.

Measure Results Made Public

Medical groups receive a  final report. Results for medical groups and clinics are also released to the public. Additionally, the results are incorporated into the Reports and Scores sections of this website.