November 16, 2011 -- Oregon Health & Science University's Beth Darnall, Ph.D., is an international expert on a novel therapy for "phantom limb pain" — real pain suffered by people who have had an arm or leg amputated. Darnall has studied and treats people with "mirror therapy," which lessens or eliminates the pain by tricking the amputee's brain into believing there was no amputation.
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Pain specialist wins grant to teach therapy for amputees in nation with high prevalence of people who've lost limbs
Nov 15 2011
November 16, 2011 – Joshua Cook, D.O., medical director of the emergency department at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville was recognized as the Medical Director of the Year for TeamHealth’s Northwest division at a reception on Oct. 14. The reception was held in San Francisco in conjunction with the American College of Emergency Physicians Annual Scientific Assembly.
Nov 15 2011
Smokers who use Quit Line report better chances of breaking the habit
November 16, 2011 --Almost 70 percent of Oregon tobacco users want to quit, and those who use the free Oregon Tobacco Quit Line have a better chance of breaking their addiction for good. New online coaching services, in addition to phone coaching, make the Quit Line more convenient and accessible than ever.
Nov 15 2011
November 15, 2011 -- The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) announced today Insurance Division Administrator Teresa Miller has accepted a position with the federal agency charged with implementing many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including the development of health insurance exchanges.
Nov 15 2011
Five months before Regence asked for a 22.1 percent rate increase, the insurer paid a $56 million dividend to its holding company; some of those funds were used to launch Sprig Health
November 10, 2011 – When state regulators approved a 12.8 percent rate increase for Regence BlueCross BlueShield earlier this year, they were aware that the insurer had dipped into its surplus account and given a $56 million dividend to its holding company just five months earlier.
Nov 10 2011
As it prepares to become a coordinated care organization in 2012, Central Oregon’s pioneering coordinated care model proves there are cost savings in coordinating care
November 10, 2011—A wide variety of organizations representing Central Oregon’s healthcare community were talking about creating a coordinated model of providing health care before the Legislature even began thinking about it.
Nov 10 2011
The Oregon Health Authority wants to use federal savings to help fund the start up of CCOs
November 10, 2011—Dr. Bruce Goldberg is in active discussions with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to see if federal funds are available to jump start the coordinated care organizations (CCOs) which will provide physical, mental health and dental services to more than 630,000 people on the Oregon Health Plan next July.
Nov 10 2011
They also want to better define the role of community health workers, personal health navigators and peer wellness specialists
November 10, 2011 – Developing a strategic plan to recruit and retain primary care providers is at the essence of a workgroup led by Dr. Lisa Dodson, director of the Oregon Area Health Education Center, which met recently.
Nov 10 2011
Few new graduates find rural areas appealing because of their debt load
November 10, 2011 -- The days of selling a private dental practice in rural Oregon are coming to an end, in part, because of the overwhelming debt faced by new graduates.
Dr. Gary Brooks knows that well. In the past ten years, he’s been approached by only three dentists interested in buying his practice, and none of them came back with an actual offer.
“With the amount of loans new dentists come out of school with, they can’t afford to buy a practice,” said Brooks, who’s been practicing in Willamina since 1975.
Nov 10 2011
A recent report from the Oregon Center for Nursing indicates there’s a nursing shortage, but new graduates are having a difficult time finding work
November 10, 2011 -- It took Jennifer Wieczorek, a 2008 graduate of Linfield College's nursing program, a year and a half to find a job using her degree – and she was the last person in her cohort to do so.
While in school, Wierczorek had a verbal agreement with Legacy Good Samaritan that she’d work there as an operating room nurse upon graduation. But it took longer than expected to pass her board certification exams, and by the time she did, Legacy didn't have a position for her anymore.
Nov 10 2011