Klamath County

Spurned by Cascade, independent nurse practitioners want to help solve the primary care backlog in Klamath County. Sky Lakes Medical Center contends that it has added the necessary providers to care for the 50 percent more enrollees who joined last year. This article is the first in a two-part series on healthcare in Klamath County.

Although the transition has been smooth, it’s still too early to tell whether access has actually improved for people on the Oregon Health Plan.

July 8, 2013—For a few weeks in late May and early June, it looked like Klamath County’s county-operated mental health programs would shut down or be disrupted. But frantic negotiations and the involvement of the Oregon Health Authority is preventing that from happening.

December 5, 2012 -- A last-ditch effort is under way in Klamath County to mediate the dispute over mental health services for the nearly 13,000 people on the Oregon Health Plan. State officials have intervened once again, sending in another mediator, while residents continue circulating petitions, asking the Oregon Health Authority to re-open the bidding process and allow a new coordinated care organization to emerge. But that won’t happen while the mediation process continues, according to Patty Wentz, spokesperson.

November 21, 2012 -- The movement to create coordinated care organizations throughout Oregon is riddled with tension in Klamath County where its commissioners are embroiled in a dispute with Cascade Health Alliance over who should be responsible for mental health services.

Cascade Comprehensive Care insists it receive a letter of support from the board of commissioners supporting their application to be a coordinated care organization