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2010 Press

Tri Cities Area Journal of Business, 2010: First flat-fee health care practices arrive in Tri-Cities
Qliance Note: A statement in this article implies flat-fee health care practices are particularly attractive to the “affluent.” We’d like to clarify that in fact Qliance’s direct primary care model is accessible and beneficial to individuals of all income levels, regardless of insurance status, including: employers, self-insured individuals, uninsured individuals, chronically ill and complex patients and anyone who is responsible for a substantial part of the cost of health care bills.

"The Tri-Cities saw its first direct practice, On Stage Health, open in November, and a second, Qliance, is planning to open a clinic next year."

The Physician's Foundation, 2010: (FURTHER READING) Health Reform and the Decline of Physician Private Practice
"A White Paper Examining the Effects of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act On Physician Practices in the United States. Includes results of Physicians and Health Reform,a survey of 100,000 physicians"

HuffingtonPost.com, Nov 22: Do It Yourself Health Care Reform
"As a country, on average we spend well over $7000 per year for every man, woman and child each year on health care. Many people don't realize it as the actual expenditures are spread across many different line items. However, many of us are now experiencing the reality of the proverbial frog that has been in water where the temperature has been steadily increasing. Before we boil, we need to make a change."

AISHealth.com, Nov 18: Direct Medical Home Practices Want to Be in Health Insurance Exchanges, ‘Be Like Starbucks or Costco’
"Nestled into the federal health reform law is a provision specifically allowing entities called “direct primary-care medical-home plans” (DMH) to participate in states’ health insurance exchanges."

MoneyTalksNews.com, Nov 1: (VIDEO) Health Care Without Insurance – $50/Month?
"How can the simple act of eliminating an insurance company offer both lower costs and better care? To get an idea, consider your car insurance."

Tri City Herald, Oct 28: New clinic, Qliance, to Charge Flat Monthly Fee
"A new kind of clinic coming to the Tri-Cities next year could make shopping for health care more like dropping in at an all-you-can-eat buffet."

InsideHealthPolicy.com, Oct 22: Washington Gov Asks HHS To Embrace Flat-Fee Primary Care Practices In Exchanges
"The provision — championed by members of the state’s congressional delegation — was 'designed to encourage the growth of a promising new health care delivery system that is proving beneficial not only to the state of Washington, but also throughout the country,' she told HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a recent letter urging her to embrace the model when she writes reform regulations."

Internal Medicine News, Oct 14: Direct Primary Care Practice Model Eyed to Trim Health Care Spending
"Physicians who practice in clinics where patients pay a set monthly fee for virtually unlimited primary care services say that the practice model, which they’ve dubbed “direct primary care medical home,” can provide high-quality care and potentially can lower health care costs more effectively than the patient-centered medical home model." Also seen in FamilyPracticeNews.com.

The Center for Connected Health, Sept 21: How Emerging Care Delivery Models Affect Connected Health
"The question is, how do we put that health support together in a way that is appropriate, effective, and manageable in terms of costs?"

The Colorado Health Foundation, Summer 2010: Flat-Fee Care with an 'All-You-Can-Eat' Approach
"Joining Qliance is similar to joining a health club or going to an all-you-can-eat buffet. [And] its price is much more reasonable than many "boutique" or 'concierge' care plans."

Seattle Business Magazine, August 2010: A Booster Shot For Healthcare
"Passage of reform may prove to be serendipitous for Seattle-based Qliance, which is targeting companies looking for lower-cost health care options for their workforce."

Natural News, July 29: Qliance Company Ditches Health Insurance & Offers Direct, Affordable Care to Patients
"The beauty of Qliance is in the simplicity of its model. Customers pay a price for health services without having to get tangled up in a bloated, bureaucratic nightmare."

Modern Medicine, July 23: Saying No to Medicare
" 'I feel strongly that our seniors deserve good care and access to primary care,' Bliss says. 'They need to stay healthy and safe. Unfortunately, Medicare operates under the same parameters as insurance—fee for service—and doesn't pay enough. We can still take Medicare patients and solve the issues.' "

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business, July 16: Seattle Primary Health Care Provider to Open Tri-Cities Clinic
"[Qliance is] just such a simple program and a good system,” Anderson said. “I’m just a huge fan of it. I really think it’ll make a huge impact in our community.”

AlwaysOn, July 15: Qliance Named AlwaysOn Global 250 Winner
  AlwaysOn works with partners and worldwide industry experts to identify the top 250 private  companies that are "taking old notions of doing things and forging solutions that will lead to industry shake-up and huge value-creation opportunities." Winners were selected after undergoing a rigorous 3 month selection process in which thousands of domestic and international companies were evaluated.

Mercer Island Reporter, July 6: Local Business Helps Local Dollars Stay Put
“Not only is this an interesting business model, but it’s comforting to know we have a local clinic for our health care needs."

stevenstumpf.com, June 21: The BLUEPRINT for Health Care Reform
“The article by Qliance CEO Norman Wu is one of the most compelling in the journal edition because they have anticipated the coming changes and implemented their own model for the past twelves years."

springwise.com, June 16: Health Care by Monthly Membership
“Aiming to apply some fresh thinking to an area that sorely needs it, Qliance has developed a new model for health care that works like a health-club membership and excludes insurance from the process."

KEPR, June 10: New Kind of Doctor's Office
“KEPR discovered a Seattle-based company that made national headlines this year -- is looking at setting up shop in Tri-Cities."

The Huffington Post, June 4: Health Insurance's Bunker Buster
“Regardless of the legislation, people will continue business as usual until people realize there's a better way as most believe traditional health insurance is the only option. Fortunately there is a better approach."

peHUB, May 25: Bezos Investment Puts Qliance in the Spotlight
“In the late ‘90s, when national healthcare reform was still but a glint in the eye of Illinois state legislator Barack Obama, primary care physician Garrison Bliss was experimenting with his own brand of healthcare reform in Seattle."

Local Health Guide, May 11: Can Seattle's Qliance Model Help Reinvent Primary Care?
“Direct care practices’” in which patients pay a flat monthly fee for comprehensive primary care services may help cut health costs while attracting more doctors to primary care, according to a paper describing the Seattle-based Qliance primary-care model."

Health Affairs, May 4: A Direct Primary Care Medical Home: The Qliance Experience
"Medical home models providing direct primary care can enable comprehensive primary care and improved access at affordable prices by operating outside the insurance system."

The Puget Sound Business Journal, Apr 27: Qliance Medical Management raises another $6M
"Investors in this round were led by Bezos Expeditions and MSD Capital LP Other participants included comedian and Seattle Sounders co-owner Drew Carey and previous venture-fund investors Second Avenue Partners, New Atlantic Ventures and Clear Fir Partners."

The Wall Street Journal Blogs, Apr 27: Amazon, Dell Founders Help Fund Healthcare Startup
"A Seattle startup that provides primary health care for a flat monthly fee is getting some big-name financial backers from the technology industry: Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell."

The Seattle Times Blog, Apr 27: Bezos, Dell and Drew Carey Fund Seattle's Qliance
"The company is announcing that it raised $6 million from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, computer baron Michael Dell and Drew Carey, the comedian, actor and co-owner of the Seattle Sounders."

TechFlash, Apr 27: Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell and Drew Carey back health care startup
"Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Dell Computer founder Michael Dell and comedian Drew Carey are among the new investors in Qliance Medical Management..."

Xconomy, Apr 27: Qliance Nails $6M From Bezos, Dell, Drew Carey for Primary Care That Avoids Insurance
"[Qliance]has nailed down another $6 million in venture capital from a group led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and which included Dell Computer pioneer Michael Dell and actor Drew Carey."

Examiner, Apr 16: Membership-Based Health Care in Seattle
"This proactive, leading approach to healthcare services through a membership not only reduces cost but also encourages a patient to seek care and avoid disruption in routine maintenance exams."

Bureau of National Affairs, Apr 12: Get Ready for More Direct Primary Care Medical Homes - Opening the Door to Insurance-Free Primary Care in State Run Exchanges
"[T]ucked into the health care bill President Obama signed into law is a relatively little-known provision that could lead to one of the most significant health care reforms in decades..." [Reproduced with permission from BNA's Health Care Policy Report, 18 HCPR 543 (Apr. 12,2010). Copyright 2010 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com.]

Real Change News, Mar 31: Scrapping Insurance to Save Money
"Dr. Bliss says primary care has nearly become a “dying breed,” yet it’s the “least expensive and most effective” area of health care. If patients can receive prompt primary care they can often prevent a trip to a specialist or even the hospital."

Healthspottr, Mar 26: Dr. Garrison Bliss Named to Future Health 100 List
"The future health 100 will honor the top innovators working in healthcare today."

The Sunbreak, Mar 24: Health Care Reform Begins at Your Direct Primary Care Medical Home
"One of the health care reform bill reforms that won't start until 2014 is the implementation of 'insurance exchanges.'"

New Atlantic Ventures, Mar 13: Health Care Reform: Common Sense Solutions
"Health Care Reform is topical. But it need not cost an arm and a leg to do."

Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, Mar 11: The Primary Care Medical Home: Whose Home is It? Reaction to the Paper by Karen Davis, PhD, and Kristof Stremikis, MPP
"In their article titled 'Family Medicine: Preparing for a High-Performance Health Care System,' Karen Davis and Kristof Stremikis present an exciting and affirming vision for the future of primary care in this country."

Washingtonian.com, Feb 1: Concierge Medicine
"Qliance has opened only three clinics in Washington state, but its backers believe its business model could revolutionize health care in the same way that Amazon transformed the book business."

The SunBreak, Jan 12: Qliance Clinic Comes to Mercer Island
"Direct primary care provider Qliance opened up its third clinic this week, at 7707 SE 27th Street, next to Walgreen’s on Mercer Island"

Mercer Island Reporter, Jan 12: Business Briefs
"Qliance, located on S.E. 27th Street, opened on Monday, Jan. 11. The medical clinic is a flat-fee, or insurance-free, direct primary care provider offering hospital and specialist care coordination along with same or next-day appointments."