The Alliance Announces 2016 Health Transformation Award Winners

MADISON, Wis. (May 16, 2016) ─ Health Transformation Awards were presented to local, regional and national leaders in improving health care at The Alliance Annual Seminar on May 12 at Monona Terrace.

Award recipients for 2016 are:

• Beaver Dam Community Hospital, Beaver Dam, Wis., which has been named to Leapfrog’s annual list of Top Hospitals in the rural hospital category for two consecutive years. Only 24 hospitals nationwide achieved this honor. The award recognizes the hospital for improving the quality of care using a systematic, process-oriented approach that can be adapted and implemented by other organizations.
• The Leapfrog Group, Washington, D.C., a national organization that makes it possible for people to pick safer care by assigning A to F grades to hospitals based on their ability to prevent errors, accidents, injuries and infections. The award recognizes Leapfrog for improving the quality of care using a systematic, process-oriented approach that can be adapted and implemented by other organizations.
• Natasha Plank-Ottum, CEO of Plank Enterprises Inc., Eau Claire, Wis., was recognized as a champion of health care transformation for both her company’s employees and for employers in northwestern Wisconsin. She helped create the Innovations in Healthcare program at UW-Stout to help employers find their way regarding health care plan options, cost management and compliance with recent mandates.
• Valerie Shields, Stoughton, Wis., the first patient to use The Alliance’s QualityPath program. Shields is a registered nurse who used her expertise to research QualityPath and then switched to a QualityPath doctor and hospital for knee replacement surgery. The award recognizes Shields for advancing understanding of how to engage consumers in making better decisions about their care and for exploring new approaches to delivering care.
• Webcrafters, Inc., Madison, Wis., which has continually worked to help move health care forward since helping found The Alliance in 1990. Company executives have taken leadership roles with The Alliance, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and National CooperativeRx. Webcrafters has pursued plan design initiatives that encourage employees to use cost-effective providers and has spearheaded efforts to share best practices for employee wellness. The award recognizes Webcrafters for improving the quality of care using a systematic, process-oriented approach and for providing extraordinary leadership among employers related to health benefits.

The Alliance presents the awards at its Annual Seminar, where national leaders share their expertise on crucial health care issues. The event annually attracts an audience of roughly 300 people, including employers and health care providers as well as brokers, agents and other professionals who support employers that self-fund their health benefits.

The Alliance moves health care forward by controlling costs, improving quality, and engaging individuals in their health. Members include more than 240 self-funded employers and insurance trusts covering more than 100,000 individuals in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

Full descriptions of award winners are available here: http://www.the-alliance.org/Learn_More/Health_Transformation_Awards/