The Lund Report

Results of Health Share of Oregon's cultural competence data collection are still preliminary – but overall, racial minorities show a higher prevalence of chronic health conditions than Caucasians, according to Sandra Clark, project director for community health strategies. Clark, who presented some of the data at Health Share's community advisory council meeting last month, said it should not be considered definitive, partly because the organization has only been gathering data since early last year. Also, current data are drawn from intake during the application process administered by the Oregon Health Authority, not health records or patient surveys.

A baby who passed through Portland International Airport last week has since been diagnosed with measles, prompting officials to stress the importance of vaccinations against the virus. While vaccination rates in the Portland area remain relatively high – about 95 percent, according to the Multnomah County Health Department – health officials are working with the child's primary care provider to make sure patients are notified of the exposure and to take appropriate follow up.

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.

Cover Oregon tried to open its legislative oversight committee to the public, only to have technical errors shut the meeting down 12 minutes after it began when the public telephone line failed to work. The Tuesday meeting was intended to be the first public meeting of the legislative oversight committee, which the Legislature had created to oversee the work of Cover Oregon. Little was known about when these meetings were actually taking place because they were kept secretive and held without access to the public or the media, in possible violation of the Public Meetings Law.

Non-profit hospitals across the state have a mission to serve their community, but an analysis by The Lund Report revealed that many of their CEOs are doing quite well for themselves, too. Across the spectrum of Tuality, Salem , Kaiser Permanente and Asante networks, hospital CEOs were well rewarded for their work. Dr. Ashish Jha, professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health, recently completed a study of executive compensation at every nonprofit hospital in the country. He found that typical CEOs earn between $400,000 and $500,000 –more at large institutions, or if they oversee more than one hospital, and less if they work in rural areas. Jha’s research looked at total reported compensation, a figure that includes actual pay as well as benefits like retirement plans and other benefits that executives don’t bring home.

A national colorectal cancer awareness group has recognized Cambia Health Solutions for its leadership in preventing colorectal cancer Preventing Colorectal Cancer, an Annapolis, Md.-based group of physicians and advocates, awarded Cambia's medical director Dr. Csaba Mera last week with its Champion Award. This award was created to recognize groups that either provide excellent care or advocacy relating to the disease.

The bonuses are back. After offering almost no bonuses in 2011, Oregon-based Legacy Health brought back incentive pay for its executives in 2012, paying out more than $881,000 to its 13 highest paid executives on staff. That’s just one of the findings in this latest installment of The Lund Report’s ongoing review of Oregon hospitals.

The fallout from the Cover Oregon debacle will not be limited to the failed online insurance exchange and could have major repercussions throughout Oregon’s health system and the coordinated care organization reform efforts, largely due to the loss of longtime public servant Dr. Bruce Goldberg. Last week, Gov. John Kitzhaber announced Goldberg’s resignation -- the health policy leader took responsibility for his role in the state’s failure to effectively manage lackluster web developer Oracle. While Goldberg headed up the Oregon Health Authority, the California technology giant sent Oregon a large infrastructure of bad codes rather than the functioning Amazon.com-style website it had promised, leaving Oregon as the only state where consumers cannot sign up for private health insurance online without assistance.

Cover Oregon kicked The Lund Report out of a meeting with top legislators at its Durham headquarters Tuesday, and barred two Statesman-Journal reporters at the door from entering the office. The reporter from The Lund Report was escorted out of the office by Cover Oregon marketing director Amy Fauver and spokeswoman Ariane Holm, and was told it was a private meeting.