oregon health authority

As FamilyCare Prepares to Close, CEO Hears Plea to Take More Time

After a testy meeting between FamilyCare’s leader, the Oregon Health Authority and Governor Kate Brown, state officials say they are planning for transition. Meanwhile, providers and patients are confused about their fate. And now Jeff Heatherington says he may keep his nonprofit operating for 90 more days – if his board agrees.

FamilyCare President and CEO Jeff Heatherington promised Wednesday night to discuss with his board the possibility of staying open for three more months rather than shutting down at the end of this year as he earlier had said he would do, after dozens of angry and concerned physicians and mental

By: 
Courtney Sherwood

New Cover Oregon Error May Put State on Hook for $74 Million in Overpayments

An examination of records by the new leadership at the Oregon Health Authority discovered that an error in the Cover Oregon process caused the state to categorize older, Medicare-eligible adults in the Medicaid expansion.

The Cover Oregon debacle continues to dog the Oregon Health Authority. Actuaries have newly discovered that more than 41,000 people were miscategorized over three years, which caused the state to draw down $74 million more federal dollars than it was allowed.

By: 
Chris Gray

Governor Calls for Medicaid Accountability, But Brown’s Proposal Would Actually Stay the Course

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.

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.

By: 
Chris Gray
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.

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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Greenlick Wants State, CCOs, NAMI to Strike Deal on Psychiatric Meds

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.

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.

By: 
Chris Gray

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