The city of Kirkland received a 2018 Health Value Award from the World Congress for the city’s employee health care program.

The award recognizes individuals and organizations that deliver high value, outcome-focused health care solutions.

Kirkland’s employee health program was introduced in 2015 and has been a success on several fronts. The new program is stabilizing the growth of health care costs while increasing access and use of primary care services. The program also provides Kirkland employees the opportunity to increase health savings to help offset future costs of health care.

“The employee benefits program was redesigned in 2015 and combines several successful ideas we learned others, into one system of care,” said mayor Amy Walen in a press release. “This approach is built to ensure employees have high value healthcare with an emphasis on wellness and savings that is not a burden on taxpayers. We are thrilled that our efforts have been recognized by the World Congress and hope that other organizations build on these ideas for the benefit of employees and their families everywhere.”

World Congress offers timely, innovative, and compelling research and advisory services to advance the health care, IP, and pharma industries. More than 350 health care organizations and employers were nominated in 13 categories for the awards.