dr. joe robertson

Joe Robertson, who was appointed to lead OHSU in 2006, has opted to collect his Public Employees Retirement System pension rather than a paycheck as he serves his final year in office.

The Oregon Health Policy Board made a baby-step Tuesday in its efforts to tackle rising healthcare costs -- approving a committee to set the groundwork for a legally allowable, sustainable rate of medical inflation for healthcare providers. When the board finishes it work, it could recommend penalties and rewards to keep providers under a reasonable inflation rate, likely one similar to the rate imposed on the the coordinated care organizations -- 3.4 percent.

Oregon Health & Science University secured $200 million from the state it said it needed to move ahead with the Phil Knight Challenge for cancer research, but House Speaker Tina Kotek got chewed up in a failed attempt to resolve a dispute over whether the tertiary hospital would agree to accept all Medicaid patients, even those from FamilyCare, with which OHSU is locked in legal battle.

January 25, 2012—Diana Bianco, a consultant with Artemis Consulting, was met with an almost deafening silence after she asked the Oregon Health Policy Board’s members if there were any more suggestions or changes they wanted to make to the business plan that sets the course for the Oregon Health Plan’s transformation. “My work here is done,” said Bianco, who’s been working with the policy board to develop the business plan.

December 15, 2011— As the Oregon Health Policy Board develops the requirements that coordinated care organizations (CCOs) must meet to deliver care to more than 600,000 Oregonians, they’re faced with finding the right balance between prescriptiveness and flexibility. Those requirements will become part of the business plan legislators will consider when they meet in February.