Barney Speight Comes Back; Tom Burns Joins Oregon Health Authority

 

Speight, who’s been the managing director of medical professional relations at ODS, left state government late last year as executive director of the Oregon Health Fund Board, which plowed the way for House Bill 2009, the major health reform legislation.

 

Why is Speight coming back? “I want to work with Bruce Goldberg,” he told The Lund Report. Goldberg has been tapped to head the Oregon Health Authority which, eventually, will include all the state’s healthcare services.

 

In Speight’s 30 year career, he’s worked for nearly every sector in the healthcare system, including stints at Regence BlueCross BlueShield, the Oregon Medical Association, Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital, Kaiser Permanente and the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

 

Tom Burns, who played a pivotal role in drafting House Bill 2009 as legislative aide to Rep. Mitch Greenlick, will become director of pharmaceutical affairs with the Oregon Health Authority.

 

“My goal is to consolidate all the purchasing power for pharmaceuticals under one umbrella and leverage the marketplace,” said Burns who spent 18 years working for the pharmaceutical industry, primarily Glaxo SmithKline. “This isn’t something I intended to do but Bruce Goldberg made a compelling case. As the author of House Bill 2009, now I want to help implement it.”