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On November 23, 1981, Group Health Cooperative and University of Washington School of Medicine sign the nation's first formal affiliation agreement between an HMO and a university medical school. The agreement, carefully worked out over a fairly long period of time, provides for courses for UW medical students at Group Health, develops several shared clinic programs, and greatly increases opportunities for Group Health's research program.

The agreement was a main achievement of Gerald "Gerry" Coe, Group Health's acting executive vice president (formally lead attorney). The alliance had been worked out in principle by Dr. Howard Kirz, Group Health's Director of Medical Education since 1977, and Drs. Jack Chase and Jack Lein, respectively dean and director of continuing education at the School of Medicine.

The agreement followed a collaboration between the two institutions begun on several projects in 1968, including the family practice residency program.

Sources: Walt Crowley, To Serve the Greatest Number: A History of Group Health Cooperative of Seattle (Seattle: GHC/University of Washington Press, 1995), 125, 168-169.

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