oregon health authority

Oregon Health Authority Fights to Keep Right to Clawback CCO Money

The state agency was largely absent from discussions in the House about two new laws to protect coordinated care organizations from capricious state governance, but now the Oregon Health Authority is asking the Senate Health Committee to roll back legislation so that it may reserve the right to retroactively reset CCO budgets in 2016.

The Oregon Health Authority has been working behind the scenes to block legislative reforms in a pair of bills that the House unanimously voted to imposed on the agency.

By: 
Chris Gray

House Votes to Require State Agencies to Account for “Emergency Rules”

State agencies often impose emergency or temporary rules with minimal oversight or public input, such as the Oregon Health Authority’s rule changes over payments to CCOs. After pulling back from an attempt to limit these rules, Rep. Bill Kennemer pushed for a law requiring annual reports to the Legislature documenting when and why these rules are issued.

The controversy between the Oregon Health Authority and the state’s coordinated care organizations has resulted in yet another unanimous measure from the Oregon House to create transparency and new laws for the state agency to follow.

By: 
Chris Gray

State confirms first travel-associated Zika case of 2016

Travelers should take precautions when visiting affected countries

The Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division is confirming that a person in Oregon has been diagnosed with a travel-associated Zika virus infection. The adult woman contracted the virus in an affected country outside the U.S. and has recovered. There is no danger to the public.

By: 
Jonathan Modie

Health Plans Show That Drug Costs Continue Escalating for PEBB

Nine complex biological drugs, all of which lack competition or price controls in the United States, accounted for 19 percent of all spending by Kaiser on PEBB members in 2015. The cost of speciality drugs is increasing 27 percent a year. Meanwhile, the board appointed Mark Fairbanks, chief financial officer of the Oregon Health Authority, its new vice-chairman.

The Public Employee Benefit Board vendors continued to show extreme inflation in the cost of pharmaceutical drugs in reports released Tuesday, a development that could stymie efforts to make healthcare costs sustainable.

By: 
Chris Gray

OHA Prepares Statewide RFP to Implement Tele-mentoring and Reduce Specialty Referrals

The Oregon Healthcare Workforce Committee probed Oregon’s foray into “tele-mentoring” through Project ECHO, developed at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center to increase access to specialty treatment in rural and underserved areas by giving front-line clinicians support to manage patients with complex conditions such as hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain and behavioral health disorders.

In 2013, HealthShare used some of its transformation dollars to launch a Project ECHO pilot on psychiatric medication management with Oregon Health & Science University.

Now a second “cohort on Oregon’s North Coast has launched with Columbia Pacific CCO taking the lead.

By: 
Jan Johnson

FamilyCare, OHA in Mediation Over 2015 Contract

The legal opinion from the Legislative Counsel sided with FamilyCare.

FamilyCare still has not signed the 2015 contract amendment with the Oregon Health Authority and has refused to return the $55 million in supposed overpayments. But the CCO may have the law on its side.

By: 
Diane Lund-Muzikant

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