Washington Rate Review Grants Award List

Cycle I Grant Application Summary

Washington Grantee: Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner

Award Date: August 16, 2010

Award Amount: $1,000,000

• Improve the Review Process: Washington conducts in-depth actuarial prospective health insurance premium review on all individual and small group health insurance plans. The State will use grant funds to make information technology system upgrades to the filing system which will improve collection, analysis, standardization and reporting of data.
• Increase Transparency and Accessibility: Current State law considers filing information proprietary and it does not currently publish all proposed health insurance premiums for individual health plans on its website. Washington will create a web based consumer website called Consumer Care for increased consumer transparency and awareness about the cost and quality of health care as a means to bring long term improvement to health care systems in the State.
• Develop and Upgrade Technology: Washington will use funds to upgrade technology and support improved reporting.

Cycle III Grant Application Summary

Washington Grantee: Washington State Office of Financial Management

Award Date: September 23, 2013

Award Amount:  $3,407,553

Baseline Award: $2,000,000

Workload Award: $1,007,553

Performance Award:  $400,000

The Office of Financial Management (OFM) updated its Cycle III grant activities to comply with a 2015 law about the Washington All Payer Claims Database (WA-APCD). The revised activities are:

• Establish Data Collection and Quality: In early 2015, WA-APCD stakeholders introduced, the Washington legislature passed and the Governor signed legislation expanding the completeness of claims data to be submitted to the WA-APCD by requiring mandatory submission of medical and pharmacy claims data by private and public payers.  The law also requires OFM to establish the WA-APCD through a competitive procurement for a Lead Organization that will be responsible for internal governance, management, funding and operations of the database and will contract with a data vendor responsible for the data collection, processing, aggregation, extracts, and analytics. OFM will be running a request for proposal in the summer of 2015 to obtain a Lead Organization and its contracted data vendor that together will implement the WA-APCD, establish advisory committees, processes and procedures to collect and release the claims data, collect and store the claims data and produce data products for free, public dissemination and for sale to support the Lead Organization.

• Dissemination of Health Pricing Information: Washington will produce health care cost and quality information using claims data for free, public dissemination on a WA-APCD website.
  

Cycle IV Grant Application Summary

Washington Grantee: Washington State Office of Financial Management
Award Date: September 19, 2014
Total Award: $1,178,616

The Office of Financial Management (OFM) updated its Cycle IV grant activities to comply with a 2015 law about the Washington All Payer Claims Database (WA-APCD). The law requires OFM to establish the WA-APCD through a competitive procurement for a Lead Organization that will be responsible for internal governance, management, funding and operations of the database and will contract with a data vendor responsible for the data collection, processing, aggregation, extracts, and analytics. The revised activities are:
 

• Establish or Improve Data Collection: Washington will conduct research, provide subject matter expertise and publish background information on issues surrounding APCDs to educate the stakeholders involved in the WA-APCD rule-making that establishes the structure for the WA-APCD.

• Data Dissemination and Transparency: Washington plans to identify the general public’s current understanding and information needs for health care pricing and quality by conducting focus groups on this topic. This information will inform the creation of data products, some of which will be made available for free to the public and the rest will be made available for sale to support the Lead Organization. Washington will also use funds to increase the general public’s awareness and use of health care pricing and quality information by creating branded education materials and conducting outreach to public and local groups.

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