The Forum will use the following principles to guide our decisions in designing pilot projects and legislative proposals, as well as evaluating proposals promoted by others.

• Every resident in the state of Washington should have affordable health care coverage.†
• All Washington residents should:
  • become knowledgeable consumers of health services;
  • be encouraged to take responsibility for their own health.
    
• The private health care market should:
  • provide health care coverage,
    contain health care and administrative costs,
  • foster choice of providers and plans,
  • improve quality,
  • test innovative solutions, and
  • operate with transparency.
• Government should:
  • be accountable to enroll those Washington residents-adults and children-who meet current eligibility requirements under existing programs.
  • regulate the market to protect consumers;
  • lead by example in public programs by such activities as supporting evidence-based care, encouraging eligible individuals to enroll in existing public programs; and
  • adequately pay providers for state-subsidized services.
• Care should be evidence-based, with an emphasis on prevention, wellness, chronic disease management, and patient safety.
• Care should be patient-centered, which means the system should promote the following elements:
  • Patients have access to coordinated primary care;
  • Patients have access to timely care;
  • Patients have a choice of providers, health plans, and effective treatments; and
  • Patients have the tools and information to help manage their own care, particularly relating to chronic conditions and prevention.
• Every effort should be made to understand and reduce unwarranted variation in care.
• As new technologies emerge, they should be evaluated for efficacy and affordability before they are widely adopted.
• All sectors of the health care system should be encouraged to use effective health information technology.
• All sectors of the health care system should work to share information about costs, patient satisfaction, and outcomes with consumers, providers, and purchasers.
• Payment strategies should move toward rewarding outcomes rather than procedures.

† The Association of Washington Business does not support this principle.