Thank you to everyone who made our recent Payer Forum Event so successful including our speakers, panelists and attendees! Click here to see the agenda: wra_2018_payer_forum_agenda
The WRA Payer Forum, the capstone to our Washington Learning Collaborative Initiative, was held on May 17th, 2018 at the Embassy Suites in Seattle, WA. Rheumatologists and practice administrators attended from around the state, as well as payer and primary care representatives. It was an exciting day, packed with valuable discussions and timely insights.
Our speakers built on several of the Learning Collaborative themes and cast a vision for improved partnerships and new reimbursements models. We discussed focus areas and initiatives at the state and federal levels that will impact our practices. As the main event, Dr. Kent Blakely of Astria Health moderated a panel of representatives from Premera, Kaiser, Noridian/Medicare, and Aetna. Finally, the table breakout sessions led to Q&A opportunities and many critical conversations.
We believe that the event was transformative for the payers’ perspectives on on the rheumatology value proposition. Many of the payers have already expressed interest in working together on a WRA payer committee. Also, the participants’ feedback following this event has been overwhelmingly positive. We were encouraged by comments that the tone and direction that was set at this event will point us all in the right direction. What started as a simple concept of a payer forum can now indeed lead to much bigger things.
We want to move quickly to advance the concepts we discussed at the forum. As for next steps there may be several considerations and opportunities. Your participation will help shape the future.
Please reach out to Michelle Zepp (MZepp@Arthritisnw.com) or Debra Alderman (debra@wsma.org) if you are interested in more information and involvement in the WRA payer committee.
WRA appreciates the generous support of industry for helping to make this event and the 2017-18 WRA Learning Collaborative possible!
Payer Forum Event Premier Sponsor: Abbvie
Learning Collaborative Sponsors:
BMS
Celgene
UCB
Myriad Genetics
Payer Forum Event Exhibitors:
In addition to the companies listed above, the following companies participated as exhibitors at the event on May 17, 2018:
Genentech
Lilly
Novartis
Regeneron