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2010 News

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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 Favorite
“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 Favorite "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 Favorite
"[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 Favorite
"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 Favorite
"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."