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.
The impact on the Insurance Division’s rate review process will initially be limited to information, but a task force could craft new legislation for 2015 that would force insurance companies and healthcare providers to adhere to a sustainable rate of medical inflation.
Sept. 11, 2013 — Gov. John Kitzhaber tasked the Oregon Health Policy Board with four areas to hold down healthcare costs, including greater oversight of rate requests by insurance companies. But the state health director, Dr. Bruce Goldberg, downplayed rate review as a way of bringing down costs at Tuesday’s meeting of the policy board.
July 3, 2013—The Oregon Health Policy Board is beginning a six-month process to develop recommendations to reform various parts of Oregon’s healthcare system to follow federal requirements in the Affordable Care Act, expand the coordinated model of care being pioneered by Oregon Health Plan providers, and bolster Oregon’s insurance rate review process.
February 7, 2013 – Health and education go hand in hand. Children whose healthcare needs are being met usually do better in school than those who don't have enough to eat, don't have access to safe housing and those whose families struggle to meet their basic health needs.
December 13, 2012 -- The 200,000 Oregonians expected to qualify for Medicaid coverage in 2014 will receive more robust benefits if the Oregon Health Policy Board approves a recommendation from the Medicaid Advisory Committee.
Now many low-income adults lack the dental, rehabilitative and optical care required by the Affordable Care Act, which expands Medicaid coverage to 133% of the poverty line. Those newcomers would receive care in the Oregon Health Plan Plus that’s already offered to children, pregnant women and people with certain disabilities.
July 12, 2012 -- The Oregon Health Policy Board voted unanimously Tuesday to give the Oregon Health Authority the power to develop administrative rules for the student healthcare workforce, after a presentation by Lisa Angus and Terri Johanson who argued that nursing and medical students often face a major bureaucratic scramble when dealing with residencies or clinical placements during their education.
