Community roundtables

After completing a series of polls, WHF found that Washington citizens wanted to be more involved in changing the healthcare system, viewing it as a shared responsibility with the government and the community. ^[4] WHF addressed these findings by holding community events in every county of Washington in order to foster discussion between public and private leaders, organizations, businesses, advocacy groups and local citizens on their common health values. ^[3]

Over three months, 1,200 people participated in the community round tables, resulting in 44 meetings and 10,000 individual responses. ^[5] A researcher from the University of Washington analyzed the responses, yielding nine key values of importance to the public regarding the healthcare system: ^[6]

• Assure fairness
• Redesign the health system
• Re-allocate existing resources
• Improve health system performance and efficiency
• Emphasize personal responsibility for healthy living and prevention
• Seek community-based solutions
• Emphasize collaboration and cooperation
• Assure governmental accountability
• Provide additional resources

Washington Health Leadership summit

In response to its findings, the WHF coordinated the Washington Health Leadership Summit, meeting with elected officials, community leaders, and individual citizens. ^[7] The two-day event was held from October 27–28, 2003 at the Seattle Seahawks stadium where the nine key values were presented and then sorted by priority via instant electronic voting after discussion. In addition, participants agreed upon adding a tenth value: to educate and engage the people of Washington state on these issues surrounding healthcare improvement. ^[3]

The ten values formed the foundation of the Washington Health Leadership Resolution calling on Washington leaders to set aside special interests and partisan differences and work together to design a healthcare system based on the values adopted at the summit. ^[8] Signed by more than 250 Washington politicians, including Washington Governor Gary Locke and King County Executive Ron Sims, the resolution and its values laid the groundwork for the creation of the Healthiest State Campaign. ^[3]

Launch and beyond

On September 18, 2004, Governor Gary Locke proclaimed the date "Washington Health Day," officially launching the Healthiest State in the Nation campaign. ^[9]

In 2005, the WHF developed a web data system in order to engage the Washington public in the campaign. The newly developed system played a role in the first Governor's Health Bowl, a statewide event sponsored by the WHF and led by the newly elected Governor Christine Gregoire. ^[3]

The event started with Gregoire's challenge to the Washington state public to collectively walk, run, or bike one million miles. More than 17,000 individuals, 300 organizations and 115 schools took on the challenge by logging their miles of physical activity at the WHF's website. ^[3] The event awarded additional points to those who correctly answered questions about health systems in Washington. That year, Washington state moved up one ranking, from 15th to 14th, in the 2005 edition of America's Health Rankings. ^[10]

In 2005, the campaign launched a quarterly magazine, thrive!, with an initial statewide circulation of 150,000 copies distributed through libraries, universities, and hospitals. The publication provided resources on healthy lifestyles and featured local figures, such as Suzy Preston, a winner of NBC's The Biggest Loser , and former Seattle Seahawks player Shaun Alexander. ^[3]

The campaign began to focus on the political aspects of health in 2006, developing a priority list and working with the Washington State Legislature to produce laws and policies to improve Washington health. ^[3]

The WHF released the 2006 Report Card on Washington's Health, assessing Washington's rank in 18 health measures and outcomes which were heavily derived from America's Health Rankings. ^[11] Its findings quickly permeated all branches of the campaign, its measures becoming the focus of the second Governor's Health Bowl in 2006.^{[ citation needed ]}

Unlike in the previous year, the 2006 Health Bowl became a six-week event, included an increased 2.5-million-mile challenge from Gov. Gregoire and featured its first ever Healthiest Business Challenge sponsored by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Chamber of Commerce. The event also retained many of its original features, such as the Healthiest School Challenge, where schools across Washington competed to log the most miles of physical activity. With growing numbers in participation and partnering organizations, the annual Health Bowl quickly became the campaign's signature event.^{[ citation needed ]}

Throughout the rest of 2006, the Healthiest State Campaign worked to address the results of the 2006 Report Card with events like the Heroes of Health Gala, the New Year's Resolution Challenge, the Healthy Schools Summit, the Latina Health Fair, and the Spring Training Challenge. In 2007, Washington state's health rank climbed from 15th to 12th, becoming one of five states to earn the title of "Most Improved State." ^[12] Washington was ranked 10th on the WHF's 2008 Report Card. ^[13]

Healthiest State xChange

In 2010, the WHF unveiled the Healthiest State xChange, and implemented the first steps of its launch in 2011. The program provided free support for consumers and businesses to help purchase and manage health insurance plans. The service additionally encouraged users to make the WHF their insurance broker of record, after which the WHF would charge a commission for their services. ^[14]

The program was designed to be a sustainable revenue source for the WHF, as it had exhausted nearly all of its reserves. However, in 2012, the WHF determined that the program would not be able to cover their expenses. In 2013, the WHF wound down its major operations and sold the xChange program to a private insurance broker and subsequently suspended it. ^[14]