FINAL BILL REPORT
SB 6516
C 7 L 94
SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED
Brief Description: Creating the Warren Featherstone Reid award for excellence in health care.
SPONSORS: Senators West, Talmadge, Moyer, Snyder and Anderson
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH CARE
BACKGROUND:
The debate over how to organize, finance and deliver personal health services has raged in Washington State and at the national level since Franklin Delano Roosevelt first suggested a national health plan as part of the New Deal in the 1930s. During much of that time our state has been a leader and innovator. Seattle and Spokane are not only recognized as Northwest regional capitals of medical research and training, with facilities such as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Warren G. Magnuson Health Sciences Center, they also serve as home to Group Health Cooperative, internationally known as a model health maintenance organization.
Our rural areas as well have contributed greatly to our state's heritage as a leader in health policy and practice. Yakima County is the home of the first city/county health department in the United States. And our state's network of rural hospitals and training programs for health care providers in rural and medically underserved areas rank with the best developed in the nation.
Warren Featherstone Reid was raised in Wenatchee, Washington, and educated at Wenatchee Community College and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He received his J.D. in 1961 from the University of Washington. "Feather" joined the staff of the Washington State Legislature in 1955 and remained in public service until 1993, when he retired from the Washington State Senate staff. During that time, he served our state as congressional aide, staff to the state Legislature, trusted advisor to Senator Warren G. Magnuson, and Governor Booth Gardner, and policy expert for countless state and federal officials.
During his career, Mr. Reid assisted Senator Magnuson for almost 20 years as his trusted aide and chief of staff in a sustained effort to advance the science and practice of medicine by expanding federal financial support for medical research through the National Cancer Institute, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and by helping to establish the Nurse Training Act, the National Health Service Corps, and the National Health Manpower Act. He advised Congress on countless health policy initiatives including Medicare and Medicaid.
Upon his return to the Washington State Senate in 1981, Feather became staff for Senator Jim McDermott and the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, specializing in health policy. In 1988, he became a key health policy advisor to Governor Booth Gardner. His efforts were central in several Washington State efforts to improve health care until his retirement in 1993. These included development of the Basic Health Plan, modifications to the Hospital Commission, changes to the manner in which the state purchases health care and passage of the Washington Health Services Act of 1993.
Featherstone Reid is presently pursuing the life of a retired gentleman of the first order enjoying travel and leisure from his home in Seattle.
SUMMARY:
The Warren Featherstone Reid Award for Excellence in Health Care is created to recognize cost-effective and quality health care services.
The Governor in conjunction with the Secretary of Health must bestow the award annually to the extent qualified applicants can be found upon a health care provider practicing in Washington State whose actual delivery of health care services exemplifies the highest achievements in consumer satisfaction, quality measurement, cost-efficiency, innovation, leadership, and other factors deemed appropriate by the Governor.
An advisory committee may be appointed to assist in the selection of honorees.
VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:
Senate 43 0
House 70 27 (House amended)
Senate 47 0 (Senate concurred)
EFFECTIVE:June 9, 1994