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Hospital affiliation vs. merger: there is a difference
The first time I heard the phrase “hospital affiliation,” I was baffled. Everyone has a pretty good sense of what a merger or acquisition is, but the use of the word “affiliation” always made me feel...
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Bill Gates, other Seattle execs make Top 100 Most Influential People in...
Bill Gates and two Seattle health executives made ModernHealthcare's list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. Dr. Gary Kaplan, chairman and CEO of Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical...
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Seattle venture expands in China with new retirement home
Cascade Healthcare, a Seattle-owned, China-based company, has opened a new 60,000-square-foot retirement home in Beijing. It's the latest move in the company’s efforts to bring American-style senior...
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Legal marijuana? U.S. Senate panel will look at states’ rights
Wannabe marijuana entrepreneurs in Washington state have been moving forward with business plans, despite the state’s conflict with federal drug laws. Now the other Washington could bring some clarity...
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Seattle Science Foundation cuts red tape out of medical research
On a recent sunny afternoon in Seattle, a group of about 75 doctors from around the world gathered at the Swedish Cherry Hill campus to practice advanced spinal surgery on a roomful of cadavers. The...
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Feds give Washington more time to add health plans to exchange
This story has been updated to reflect that other states received an extension as well. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is giving Washington, and other states, an extension on the...
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Abortion won’t be covered in Group Health’s exchange plans
Group Health Cooperative won’t cover abortion in plans offered through Washington state's health exchange in 2014, although officials said they had always planned to make those services available....
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Regence and MultiCare make an agreement aimed at limiting costs, rewarding...
Regence BlueShield in Washington and MultiCare Health System, of Tacoma, have struck a deal intended to keep health care costs down and reward doctors for quality care. The agreement, called a...
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Feds won’t stand in the way of Washington’s marijuana market
The U.S. Department of Justice revealed Thursday that it won’t stop Washington and Colorado from moving forward with a recreational marijuana market. Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington state Attorney...
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Gov. Inslee calls for better-regulated, more accessible medical marijuana market
Gov. Jay Inslee said Washington state needs to revamp its medical marijuana industry, citing the lack of a clear legal system for distributing medical marijuana. “We believe that there are serious...
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Catholic system PeaceHealth wins affiliation with two Northern hospitals
Two Northern Puget Sound hospitals decided Thursday to negotiate affiliations with PeaceHealth, while a third decided against moving forward on the deal for now. UW Medicine will benefit from the...
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Exchange board again delays approving health plan choices
In what one board member described as a “political statement,” the board of the Washington health exchange decided to delay certifying health plans for the online insurance marketplace for another...
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This week in health care: Health exchange delays, medical marijuana & abortion
This is your weekly roundup of the most critical health news nationally and locally. Every Friday we bring you quick summaries of the news, along with links to full stories from around the globe. Check...
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At 11th hour, Kreidler approves another insurer for state health exchange
Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has approved one more company for operation in Washington’s health benefit exchange. The company, Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., had previously been rejected...
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MultiCare CEO Cecchettini to retire in 2014
Diane Cecchettini, the longtime president and CEO of Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System, says she will retire in the second quarter of 2014. Cecchettini is the first woman and first registered nurse...
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Washington state health exchange gets the options board members demanded
Just over a month ago it looked like the Washington state health exchange would offer just 23 different insurance plans – and in many counties people would essentially have only one or two plans to...
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State sets limits on marijuana stores, size of businesses
Washington will have no more than 334 retail marijuana stores around the state, according to revised rules from the Liquor Control Board. That limit is just one of many new and revised rules made...
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Local research groups team up in new way on life-saving blood device
A new Seattle-based research collaborative has awarded $390,000 to a team of University of Washington medical engineers and researchers to improve and test a handheld device designed to improve...
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Yeah, but what does it really cost? Understanding insurance affordability...
Two new studies examining insurance affordability under Obamacare have concluded that consumers in Washington will be able to find reasonably priced premiums – but the studies don’t evaluate other...
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Racing the clock, board adds 3 choices to Washington's health exchange
In a last-minute meeting Friday morning, the Washington state health exchange board certified three more plans from Coordinated Care Corp. to be added to the online insurance marketplace being...
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