What: The monthly meeting of the Oregon Health Policy Board
When: Tuesday, June 6, 8:30 a.m. to noon
Oregon Health Authority Director Lynne Saxton said the state does have approval of the federal government for its haphazard re-enrollment process, which should be finished by the end of summer. But new deadlines from the governor merely affirm the schedule Saxton has outlined.
By:
Chris Gray
Democratic Gov. Kate Brown issued a press release Tuesday calling for new accountability measures into the Medicaid renewal process, but everything she suggested are things that the Oregon Health Authority is already doing.
Only 15 percent of Oregon Health Plan income-based members have seamless coverage at renewal time. Rep. Cedric Hayden wants to pull enrollment from OHA and give it to DHS, and require that lapsed members be put immediately back into the CCO that was serving them.
By:
Chris Gray
Medicaid members must renew each year.
As they jump through a difficult re-enrollment process, 147,000 Medicaid members have been caught outside coordinated care organizations with little access to care, which could cause the state and CCOs to lose $200 million per year in Medicaid funding, mostly from federal sources.
By:
Chris Gray
The Oregon Health Authority’s Medicaid renewal plan is marooning recipients for weeks or months in a separate system outside the state’s coordinated care organizations, limiting members access to care and keeping funds away from the local CCOs
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Psychiatric medications are carved out of the purview of the CCOs, limiting their ability to fully integrate mental healthcare. The organizations have tried repeatedly to remove this restriction, and this year the state will require them to allow any patient to stay on their preferred medication.
By:
Chris Gray
Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, has asked the Oregon Health Authority to negotiate with representatives from the National Alliance on Mental Illness if the state agency wishes to give more power to coordinated care organizations to manage psychiatric drugs.
Data analysis also shows discrepancies by race and gender, with black CCO members visiting the emergency department more often than members of other races, and women visiting more often than men
By:
Courtney Sherwood
Oregon’s effort to overhaul its healthcare system – with coordinated care organizations leading the charge – is beginning to show results, according to an assessment of CCOs and other Oregon Health Authority data that was submitted to the Legislature when makers convened in Salem.
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A group of health care leaders and the Oregon Health Authority seek to reduce opioid overdoses and improve pain treatment
By:
Tony Andersen
PORTLAND, OR––A group of Oregon health care leaders has approved a new standard for prescribing opioids for pain. The Oregon-specific guidelines aim to improve patient care and pain management, and reduce prescription drug overdoses in the state.
The state agency has hired 862 more employees since 2013 and increased salaries on upper management by 18 percent, helping to drive a 29 percent overall increase in payroll.
By:
Chris Gray
The Oregon Health Authority has increased spending on employee salaries by 29 percent since 2013, including an 18 percent increase on the salaries of upper management, even as it forecasts a hole of $1.1 billion for the 2017-2019 biennium.
By:
Jana Fussell
The Oregon Health Authority will begin its review of a Certificate of Need application from NEWCO Oregon Inc. (Universal Health Services) for a certificate of need to build a 100-bed, freestanding psychiatric hospital in Wilsonville.
The 2017-2019 budget proposal shows a 56 percent increase in general fund spending from the current budget from $2.1 billion to $3.3 billion.
By:
Chris Gray
Oregon Health Authority Director Lynne Saxton has released her agency’s budget request for 2017 to 2019, asking that the state pony up a billion dollars more than the current budget, raising the state’s stake in the healthcare agency from $2.14 billion to $3.33 billion.
