Another deadline from the Affordable Care Act will hit the Oregon healthcare industry a little over a year from now, and the state is not yet ready to make the transition.
If they want to contract with health insurance plans sold on Cover Oregon, all 26 Oregon hospitals with 50 beds or more will need to have a patient safety evaluation system and report their aggregate medical data to a federally recognized, patient safety organization.
Oregon Patient Safety Commission director Bethany Walmsley said Tuesday that she’d like to see the commission take on that responsibility. Although the commission has been supervising patient safety in Oregon hospitals under state statute for 10 years, the federal government has not yet approved them for the job.
“Those hospitals do already deserve to be listed,” Walmsley said.
Walmsley added that no other patient safety organization in Oregon has been approved, either, leaving the state’s hospitals with nowhere to turn to should the Oregon Patient Safety Commission not be given an OK by Jan. 1, 2015.
As the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviews their application at a glacial speed, Walmsley said she supported a direct appeal to U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, who could grant a waiver to hospitals monitored by the Oregon Patient Safety Commission.
That waiver would allow them to treat Cover Oregon clients while the commission’s federal approval waits.
Even though the safety commission could become both federally and state-sanctioned, state law would prevent it from acting as a patient safety organization for hospitals in other states.
Board member Dr. Csaba Mera with Regence BlueCross BlueShield noted that hospital systems no longer remain within state boundaries -- particularly in the case of Portland-based Legacy Health, which has one hospital, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, in Vancouver, Wash., it may make more sense to offer them the chance to report to the Oregon commission to meet the federal requirement.
“If we want to go there, we need to get the legislation changed,” said Chairwoman Melinda Muller.
The safety commission is charted by the state and its board members are appointed by the governor, but all of its operations are paid for by fees charged to hospitals and nursing homes. If Legacy Health wanted to pay the Oregon commission to oversee its Washington hospitals, it wouldn’t cost the state any tax money.
