Less than two weeks after officials at Oregon Health & Science University told The Lund Report they intended to negotiate a new agreement with Salem Health, that effort to repair a relationship ori
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Senate President Peter Courtney says he is disappointed at the end of the partnership.
Jun 20 2017
A former employee says that New Seasons, a Zoom Health customer, may be due a refund under an Affordable Care Act provision that requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on claims or health system improvements. Individuals are also asking about rebates from the shuttered plan.
Thousands of individuals and two of Portland’s most beloved companies may be owed rebates that insurance company Zoom Health Plan sought to pocket for itself, if allegations being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation are proven true.
Jun 14 2017
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The Senate Republican Leader scoffed at the notion that the GOP never supports tax increases or turns a cold shoulder to the state’s most vulnerable citizens, even as Congressional Republicans have vied to end the Medicaid expansion. The $19.9 billion budget for the Oregon Health Authority and the $548 million provider tax to help fund the state’s share breezed through the Oregon Senate on Wednesday. Jun 21 2017 |
The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems argues costs would shift to other payers if rates are capped by the Public Employees Benefit Board. But evidence shows the opposite: lower Medicare rates have forced hospitals to become more efficient, and those savings have been passed on to private insurance. Prescription drug price control legislation being debated in the state Legislature could cut premium costs for public employees by 3 percent, and help the state maintain inflation levels below 3.4 percent. Jun 21 2017 |
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A growing portion of homeless people in Oregon’s largest county is disabled, and service agencies report anecdotally that the people they serve are older and sicker than a decade ago. A new point-in-time count of homeless people in Multnomah County, released Monday, shows the growing problem of homelessness through the comforting lens of numbers. Jun 21 2017 |
The Oregon Health Forum, The Lund Report’s educational arm, has launched a redesigned website ahead of a fall event program that will begin with a look at healthcare in public schools. Jun 21 2017 |
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During the month of June be sure and save big on your regular job listing by entering HealthJobs20 during the checkout process. Opus Search Partners is an independent executive search firm based in Philadelphia and Portland, OR. Opus conducts senior-level searches for clients in higher education, and healthcare. Jun 21 2017 |
 A spokesman is calling statements from a former Zoom Health Plan employee "inaccurate and inflammatory," and says the company complied with medical loss ratio rules. In response to allegations made by a former Zoom Health Plan employee, and concerns raised by several of the insurance company's former members, Zoom spokesman Len Bergstein issued the following statement on Thursday: Jun 15 2017 |
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One panelist at Thursday’s Oregon Health Forum breakfast expressed deep alarm about addiction and cannabis use, while two others brought more nuanced views and called for better research, noting that legalization of pot is boosting communication with doctors and may provide help for some opioid addicts. Marijuana legalization is creating a raft of opportunities and challenges for healthcare providers, panelists said Thursday morning at an Oregon Health Forum discussion of the consequences of legal cannabis use. Jun 15 2017 |
After a summer hiatus, the Oregon Health Forum will return on Aug. 23 with a exploration of how to break down the wall between K-12 funding and healthcare budgets. Millions of education dollars are being spent delivering healthcare in schools across Oregon – from insulin injections offered by a teacher, to mental health counseling at a high school, to a school nurse working with a medically fragile child. Jun 16 2017 |
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The House passed a bill that will allow the state records division to stop charging homeless people for their birth certificates. Three other bills go to Gov. Brown, protecting patients from surprise billing, putting DCO members on CCO boards and banning whip-its for minors. The Oregon House voted for a measure that will allow Oregon-born homeless people to get free birth certificates, a critical starting point to receiving government assistance, earning a GED and getting ahead in life. Jun 14 2017 |
States are making tepid progress helping millions of elderly and disabled people on Medicaid avoid costly nursing home care by arranging home or community services for them instead, according to an AARP report released Wednesday. Jun 14 2017 |
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State officials have confirmed they are assisting a federal investigation into Zoom Health, which is in receivership, even as they proceed with a lawsuit against Zoom Management. The exact nature of a federal investigation into Zoom Health Plan is not clear, but officials with the company, as well as state insurance regulators and a several current and former employees, all have confirmed that investigators delivered a subpoena to CEO Dave Sanders on Thursday morning. Jun 9 2017 |
OHSU and Providence Health & Services stepped to the plate to make sure people with disabilities are not discriminated against when it comes to receiving a life-saving organ transplant. The Senate on Monday unanimously passed House Bill 2839, which will protect Oregonians living with disabilities by preventing medical providers from discriminating against them for organ transplants. Jun 5 2017 |
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Oregon is poised to become the third state to expand the scope of practice of its nurse practitioners to allow them to perform the male sterilization procedure. Urologists opposed the bill, comparing nurse practitioners to gas station attendants. The Oregon Senate cut the final strings keeping nurse practitioners from performing vasectomies on Tuesday, voting 25 to 5 to delete a statute that specifically bars them from doing this work, even if they have been specially trained. Jun 7 2017 |
Public pressure from legislators and the media appears to have caused the state to move enrollment for the Oregon Health Plan to the Department of Human Services, where case workers are already assisting low-income and disabled residents with other public benefits. The Department of Human Services is taking over the responsibility for enrolling people in the Oregon Health Plan from the embattled Oregon Health Authority, a move that comes after outcries from the state legislators that vulnerable people may be losing out on health benefits due to a difficult Jun 7 2017 |