(Portland, OR) – Deborah Friedman has been appointed Chief Operations Officer (COO) for Health Share of Oregon, Oregon’s largest coordinated care organization (CCO). In her new role as COO, Friedman will be responsible for developing, implementing,and maintaining the operating plan to support thebusiness strategy for the corporation. A key responsibility will be the oversight of the compliance and risk management activities of Health Share’scontractual relationships between Health Share and its health plan affiliates, including the contractual relationship with the Oregon Health Authority.
“Deborah brings 20 years’ experience in Medicaid managed care, including over 16 years in operations,” said Janet L. Meyer, CEO of Health Share. “Her background will enable us to build on the foundation of administrative efficiencies and strategic investments that has been established in Health Share’s first three years.”
Friedman, who has served as Health Share’s Behavioral Health Director since 2013, saw an opportunity to use her operations experience to further contribute to Health Share’s health transformation efforts. She will be working collaboratively with Health Share’s clinical leadership in supporting clinical and operational transformation.
“Transformation depends upon a robust operational and administrative infrastructure,” Friedman noted. “I’m looking forward to evaluating our current systems and processes to ensure they’re effective and efficient in meeting the needs of our partners.”
As Behavioral Health Director, Friedman was responsible for those portions of Health Share’s Transformation Plan which focus on administrative simplification, risk transformation and delivery system change related to mental health and substance use.
“Working towards a regional system of care for behavioral health, we have been able to standardize operations across the three counties in Health Share’s service area,” Friedman added. “The counties are now aligned through work in alternative payment models, standardized administration and moving towards outcomes-based care in mental health. These are achievements we can build on to help all of our health plan partners move to an integrated clinical model and a similar regional model of care.”
Prior to Health Share, Friedman served as the Mental Health Organization Director for Clackamas County. During her tenure with the county, she directed the development of a comprehensive quality, utilization and performance management strategy to achieve the Triple Aim objectives of better care, better health and lower costs.
She has a BS in Sociology from Oregon State University, a MA in Counseling Psychology from Lewis and Clark College and a MBA in Business Administration from Portland State University.
About Health Share of Oregon
Serving over 236,000 members in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties, Health Share of Oregon is a unique community-wide partnership created to ensure quality, cost-effective physical, dental and mental health care for Oregon Health Plan members. With a network of over 16,000 providers, including over 900 dentists, Health Share provides an integrated community delivery system with the objective of achieving better care, better health and lower costs for the Medicaid population and for the region.
Health Share is a collaborative of 11 founding partners: Adventist Health, CareOregon, Central City Concern, Clackamas County, Kaiser Permanente, Legacy Health, Multnomah County, Oregon Health & Science University, Providence Health & Services, Tuality Health Alliance and Washington County.
