Comagine Health Press Releases

Comagine Health, a leading national, nonprofit health care consulting firm, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Since its founding in 1973, Comagine Health has grown from serving one local community into a national industry leader improving health care in more than 20 states with an annual revenue of almost $80 million. The company remains committed to its mission to improve health and create a better health care system so that people and communities will flourish.

With offices in nine locations nationwide and nearly 450 employees in over 30 states, Comagine Health has a robust and thriving national presence and profile. The organization works collaboratively across the health care system to reimagine, redesign and improve health care. Comagine Health partners with long-standing clients in both the public and private sector and at the federal, state and local level.

The company has deep expertise in quality improvement, care management, health information…

Comagine Health, a leading national, nonprofit health care consulting firm, announced that Emily R. Transue, MD, MHA, FACP, joined the company as chief clinical officer. Dr. Transue brings more than 20 years of clinical experience and has expertise in primary care, physician-owned multispecialty group leadership, Medicaid managed care and state public benefit programs, including Medicaid and public and school employee benefits.

Before joining Comagine Health, Dr. Transue served as a medical director at the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA). During her tenure, she provided clinical leadership and oversight of all Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) and School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) programs, including HCA’s Accountable Care Program and Centers of Excellence Program. In addition, she supported the initial years of the Medicaid Transformation Project and provided ongoing leadership of quality measurement and improvement efforts across both Medicaid and…

Comagine Health, a leading national nonprofit health care consulting firm, named additional board members recently. Marc Bennett, Comagine Health’s president and chief executive officer, recognized that a broader range of diverse expertise is needed at the board level to achieve the organization’s mission and vision. 

“Comagine Health remains committed to reimagining health care, together,” Bennett said. “We rely on our board of directors to help us carry out our mission and vision. Our new board members offer diverse perspectives, strategic leadership and many years of experience that will amplify our success and enable us to transform the health care system together.”

The new board members are:

• Steve Hansen, MPA — Mr. Hansen is the president and chief executive officer of Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS), a New Mexico-based nonprofit corporation whose mission is to design and deliver quality…

One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that people may be faced with a serious illness or a medical emergency that require vital decisions about their medical care, and sometimes those decisions can't be made by the patient themselves. This has brought awareness to the need for making an advance directive.

National Healthcare Decisions Day is an annual initiative each April 16  to encourage people to make an advance directive and to discuss their wishes about future health care decisions and put them in writing before a health crisis occurs. This helps loved ones, providers and facilities be aware of and respect those wishes. People can also specify what life-sustaining treatments they do or do not wish to have.

To honor this national initiative, eight Utah health organizations have come together to bring awareness to the need for people to make an advance…

New Lineup Poised to Position Industry Leader for Future Growth

Comagine Health, a leading national nonprofit health care consulting firm, named additional leaders recently. Marc Bennett, Comagine Health’s president and chief executive officer, recognized that a broader range of diverse expertise is needed at the leadership level to achieve the organization’s mission and vision. This move supports Comagine Health’s commitment to investing in the research and evaluation division and enhancing the growth division.

“Comagine Health is committed to reimagining health care, together,” Bennett said. “In order to do this, we need the proficiency of visionary leaders. Our new leaders offer valuable perspectives, strategic leadership and many years of experience that will amplify our success.”

Bennett added, “We’ve seen substantial growth in our research and evaluation department, and it enhanced our need for a strategic vice president to lead this team.…

New White Paper Offers a Blueprint for the Next Generation of Utilization Management

Comagine Health recently published a white paper “Transforming Utilization Management to Achieve the Quadruple Aim: Patient Experience, Better Health, Lower Cost and Improved Provider Work Life.” The white paper, developed by lead author Dr. Dan Lessler, Comagine Health’s chief clinical officer, offers a blueprint for the next generation of utilization management. The proposed model is based off a data-driven, evidence-based, collaborative and transparent process that embraces the Quadruple Aim of better patient experience, better health, lower costs and improved provider work life.

Comagine Health has an extensive history of providing consultation and services to a wide range of partners across multiple health care settings. With Comagine Health’s support, clients allocate their limited health care resources wisely by avoiding overuse, misuse and underuse of health…

New Work Focuses on Surveillance of Post COVID-19 Conditions

Comagine Health was recently awarded a five-year contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track the burden, distribution and impact of post COVID-19 conditions. The work focuses on diverse populations of children, adolescents and adults in Utah, New York City and the Bronx. Comagine Health will partner with Boise State University, BeyondHIE, BronxRHIO, the Utah Health Information Network (UHIN) and FindHelp.

Comagine Health has a deep history of managing scientific studies and performing advanced analytics using various health data sources. In this project, the data solutions team will use clinical data from two health information exchanges (HIEs), augmented with social determinants of health data, to identify, track and analyze the long-term impact of COVID-19 on patients after their diagnoses.

As a part of this collaborative effort, the principal investigator and…

SEATTLE, Washington — Comagine Health’s physician executive John Vassall, MD, was recently awarded the Steven E. Weinberger Award by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internal medicine physicians. This prestigious award is bestowed upon a physician executive for distinguished contributions to internal medicine and improving health care.

As Comagine Health’s physician executive, Dr. Vassall provides strategic leadership, clinical insight and technical expertise for patient safety and quality improvement activities. Dr. Vassall’s career spans more than three decades. Before joining Comagine Health, he was a hospital MD surveyor for The Joint Commission, evaluating U.S. hospitals for safety and quality of care. At Swedish Health Services, he served as vice president for medical affairs and chief of staff before becoming chief medical officer, responsible for quality, safety, accreditation, research, medical staff services and risk and…

New Work Expands Access to Chronic Disease Self-Management Education in Oregon 

PORTLAND, Oregon — Comagine Health was recently awarded a contract with the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Community Living. The work will take place over the next three years and will focus on building a partner network to deliver evidence-based chronic disease self-management education (CDSME) programs in Oregon.  

Comagine Health has a deep history of collaborating with partners and stakeholders to build robust community programs. Currently, Comagine Health works closely with organizations in Oregon, New Mexico, Utah and Washington to build lifestyle change programs. Comagine Health also serves as the Oregon Self-Management Network convener and compass data system administrator for Oregon. This new contract will establish the Community Integrated Network of Oregon and focus on increasing capacity and coordination for program…

New Research Funded by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Portland, Ore. — Comagine Health, a leading national nonprofit health care consulting firm, received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, in partnership with Vital Strategies, a global public health organization focused on supporting governments to strengthen public health systems. The work will focus on conducting a process evaluation of Oregon’s drug decriminalization legislation, Measure 110.

In November 2020, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize personal non-commercial possession of drugs, through the voter-approved Measure 110, Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act. The measure makes personal drug possession a Class E violation, subject to a $100 fine that is waived if the individual completes a substance use assessment, a goal to provide a public health-based response to drug use and addiction.

“Our Measure 110 process evaluation will provide critical…