March 27, 2012 -- The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) has fined a Salem insurance agent $9,000 for misleading the public about his expertise and qualifications and for failing to report misdemeanor criminal prosecutions.
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OSPIRG Foundation Releases Analysis of PacificSource’s Pending Rate Filing
March 26, 2012 -- PacificSource should provide more details to justify its proposed rate hike on small businesses, according to a new OSPIRG Foundation analysis. If approved, the insurer will raise rates 5.56% on average beginning in July, affecting 35,224 Oregonians enrolled in coverage through a small business employer.
Mar 26 2012
The funds will help recognized providers deliver care that is more patient-centered
March 26, 2012 -- Healthcare clinics across Oregon that are recognized as “primary care homes” can now apply to receive additional Medicaid funding to support the comprehensive, coordinated and patient-centered care they offer patients and communities.
Mar 26 2012
But more work needs to be done to develop the training and education programs
March 26, 2012—Community health workers who will work with coordinated care organizations (CCOs) will be expected to need 80 hours of training and education, but not be licensed, according to recommendations that a subcommittee of the Oregon Healthcare Workforce Committee expects to approve Wednesday.
The committee, called the Non-Traditional HealthCare Workforce Subcommittee, was created by the Oregon Health Policy Board to create standards and guidelines for a state-wide workforce of community health workers.
Mar 26 2012
March 26, 2012 –- Kaiser Permanente Northwest announced today the appointment of Jay Gusick as executive director of Brand Strategy, Communications and Public Relations.
Mar 26 2012
Frequently German hospitals have three or four beds per room, but don’t have long waits for surgery
March 26, 2012 – BERLIN -- German healthcare experts, responding to comments made to an initial article in Tthe Lund Report, rejected some of the complaints, but acknowledged that their system isn’t perfect.
Long waits and crowded hospital rooms are not the norm, they say.
Mar 26 2012
The clinic, in its early planning stages, hopes to begin seeing patients as early as this fall
March 26, 2012 -- Central City Concern and the Multnomah County Health Department have joined forces to open a safety net dental clinic in downtown Portland for the uninsured and people on the Oregon Health Plan.
The clinic is expected to open this fall.
The county runs several dental clinics on the inner east side and in Gresham, including a clinic on SE 44th and Powell, but none are close to the downtown area.
Mar 25 2012
The effort, initially funded by a 2006 grant, is now being extended to coordinated care organizations in southern Oregon
March 24, 2012—A quick, 15-minute appointment with a mental health counselor to talk about the effects of stress and anxiety when a person has an ulcer is radically different than a traditional hour long appointment with a counselor. But providers in southern Oregon are discovering that such appointments, which integrate mental healthcare in the same primary care setting, go a long way toward improving a patient’s health.
Mar 25 2012
Scott Clement, vice president of provider services in Idaho and John Stellman, senior vice president of healthcare services for Cambia Health Solutions, have announced their departures
March 26, 2012 – CareOregon has recruited a top executive from Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Scott Clement, who joins the managed care plan April 9 to become provider services director. That position was previously held by James Schroeder.
In making the announcement, Scott Kreiling, president of Regence BlueShield of Idaho, told employees in a written memo, “It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Scott Clement, Vice President of Provider Services in Idaho, will be leaving the company as of April 6.
Mar 25 2012
Children’s advocates hope that more school-based health services will occur once more is learned about why students miss school
March 22, 2012—After intense lobbying and attending countless Oregon Education Investment Board meetings and subcommittee meetings, the Healthy Kids Learn Better Coalition got what it wanted: inclusion of absenteeism in the achievement compacts between school districts and the state, which could lead to more information about students’ health problems.
Mar 23 2012