About North Sound ACH

North Sound Accountable Community of Health (North Sound ACH) exists to create a just and inclusive culture and the necessary conditions for all community members to thrive.

The North Sound region is home to more than one million people who live in Island, San Juan, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties — urban and rural settings spanning from mountains to islands in the Salish Sea. Our region is also home to eight Tribal nations who have inhabited this land since time immemorial: Lummi Nation, Nooksack Tribe, Upper Skagit Tribe, Samish Indian Nation, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, Tulalip Tribes, and Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe.

North Sound ACH was founded in 2015 to be a place where collaborative learning, planning, and decision-making could occur, crossing traditional jurisdictional boundaries, and looking upstream to tackle issues that impact health, believing that people in the region are more connected than they are separate.

Advancing equity, well-being and a sense of belonging are fundamental elements of the regional work, using the framework of targeted universalism to shape and inform planning, actions, decision-making, and investment.

Our organization’s roles include:

Invest
Backbone support for regional fund allocation, shared infrastructure (i.ie., grants management, cloud-based resources, HR and Finance), training, and technical assistance.

Informed Action
Improve ways of using data, identify emerging issues, asset and resource sharing, and get regional information to decision-makers.

Build Capacity
Active engagement of community leaders and stakeholders in operationalizing a shared vision and project goals, sharing knowledge, resources, and services with each other.

Catalyst for Change
Trusted convener, a space where ideas generate and evolve, system disruptors, strategic risk-taking through partnerships.

Elevate Emerging Issues
Leverage knowledge to address the region’s current and emerging complexities that cross jurisdictions and sectors, raising up those that advance equity, and address privilege and structural racism.

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Medicaid Transformation Project:

North Sound ACH is a partner with the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) in the Medicaid Transformation Project, focused on improving health for people on Medicaid across the state.  Visit the HCA’s website to learn more.

The Medicaid Transformation Project is a five-year agreement (2017-2021) between Washington state and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that provides funding for health system transformation projects that improve the health of Medicaid enrollees.

North Sound ACH documents submitted to the Health Care Authority (HCA) are available to view here.

North Sound ACH Land Acknowledgement: We begin by acknowledging, with humility, that the land where we are today, is the territory of the People of the Salish Sea. Their presence is imbued in the waterways, shorelines, valleys and mountains of the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish People – Since Time Immemorial…