July 5, 2012 – The Oregon Health Authority, the governmental agency that oversees the implementation of coordinated care organizations, is seeking proposals for transformation consultants.
These consultants are expected to facilitate the exchange of information between these CCOs and the authority and will each be paid up to $100,000 a year for such services and travel costs. The authority intends to award multiple contracts from August 1 through next July.
Several executives of CCOs contacted by The Lund Report questioned the need for such consultants, since the state faces a tight budget squeeze and is attempting to reduce healthcare costs.
On August 1, eight coordinated care organizations throughout Oregon will begin integrating the physical, mental and dental care for people on the Oregon Health Plan. By creating patient teams of doctors, nurses, mental health practitioners, community health workers, dentists and providers, the goal is to provide more efficient and effective care, thus saving costs by decreasing emergency room and specialty care use.
Several other organizations have also been given provisional certification to begin providing services starting September 1, including:
- Cascade Comprehensive Care’s application, which will cover most Klamath County, and
- The Tri-County Medicaid Collaborative, a large consortium of hospitals, doctors, federally qualified health centers and other health organizations in the Portland metropolitan area. Earlier the collaborative received a $17.3 million grant from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. It will compete with FamilyCare, Inc. in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.
Coordinated care organizations are the backbone of reforms made to the Oregon Health Plan that the Legislature set in motion with the passage of House Bill 3650 and Senate Bill 1580.
The Oregon Health Plan covers approximately 650,000 people on Medicaid.
TO LEARN MORE
For more details on the RFP issued by the Oregon Health Authority, click here.
