State legislators and other officials on the front lines of health care policy will share their views Thursday at CCO Oregon’s annual conference, urging system leaders (and the state’s next governor) to address a complex array of needs. urged to maintain a steady hand for
As Congress prepares for its long session in 2023, the need for improved programs and funding has been a major focus.
Nearly 300 people gathered in person at the conference for the first time since 2019. Members of CCO Oregon include health care providers and coordinated care organizations that have contracted with the state to provide coverage to members of Oregon’s health plan.
The meeting took place in a time of turmoil and change.
The state prepares to resume federally mandated eligibility checks that will discharge an estimated 300,000 people from Oregon’s health plan rolls. Staffing shortages are exacerbating hospital capacity crises.
Meanwhile, the federal government recently approved changes to the program, including expanded coverage for children under the age of 6 and new spending on health-related needs such as housing and food.
Meanwhile, the state’s behavioral health system is in trouble, from slow deployment of $1 billion in new funding to hospital admissions at Oregon State Hospital, a state-run psychiatric residential facility.
Two panels featured lawmakers who spoke on health care and behavioral health. When asked about the next legislative session at the Panel Behavioral Health Panel, Tawna Sanchez, D-North, and Northeast Portland said the state needs to find ways to continue his 2021 session focus. rice field. And new programs and facilities to grow the system. Another priority: States need to increase reimbursement rates for behavioral health care providers to support better wages, Sanchez said.
Rep. Raquel Moore-Green, R-Salem, agreed, saying it’s important that behavioral health care providers pay comparable wages to other providers.
Senator Kate Lieber of D-Beaverton said the state’s strained workforce also needs attention.
“We have to reduce the caseload of people,” Lieber said. “We have to understand this.”
Lieber said states should reduce the administrative burden on behavioral health care providers so they can spend more time with patients.
Dana Hittle, Interim Medicaid Director for the Oregon Department of Health, agrees. “You don’t want a behavioral health clinician to spend 90% of his day doing paperwork,” Hittle said.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nunn Waller said people need more places to go besides jail during a crisis. It’s important to ensure that people simply stabilize and not return to the streets without follow-up support and care, Waller said.
Waller said this complex problem does not offer a single solution.
“I’m not a wizard on how you do it,” she said.
Panelists also discussed the state’s Oregon health plan waiver approval, which was announced Wednesday. , and $2 billion in new federal funding while ensuring the flexibility to spend $1.1 billion of that funding on services related to housing, food, and climate-related programs.
“To move forward with the next iteration of CCO, our focus will be on implementing the flexibility we have achieved through this waiver application,” said Hittle.
Post-pandemic outlook
Another committee of lawmakers looked to the future of health care in Oregon.
Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, chairman of the House Interim Health Care Committee, through the soon-to-reopen eligibility checks that guide those who are eligible to qualify for Oregon’s health plan. said to face challenges. Plan rolls swelled to his 1.4 million as federal rules blocked states from conducting checks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nosse applauded the work done through House Bill 4035. It sets guidelines for eligibility checks designed to protect the most vulnerable and a “bridge” to cover too many Oregonians to qualify for his Medicaid-funded OHP. I laid the foundation for the plan, but I still struggle with nursing care.
“For the sake of honor, our state is trying to find ways to keep people insured,” Nuth said, adding that it would be a “cumbersome and difficult” process.
“It’s just going to be a challenge for us.”
Other advice provided by Nosse: Don’t be afraid to attempt complex information technology deployments.
Nosse said the state will have to “wait a little bit” to begin major reforms of its CCO model given the many challenges the state currently faces. “I don’t think it should be rushed,” he says Nosse.
Panel members agreed that there are many facets to the workforce challenge in healthcare. For example, even students with full scholarships often miss college because of high housing costs, says her D-Woodburn Rep. Teresa Alonso Leon.
Republican Senator Dick Anderson of Lincoln agreed, saying limited housing is discouraging people from accepting jobs in his coastal district.
Another issue is the recruitment of teachers. Portland-Northwest Portland-Beaverton Sen. Elizabeth Steiner-Hayward, a primary care physician who teaches at Oregon Health and Science University, said faculty salaries need to be competitive. .
“How can you expect to teach the best and brightest if you don’t pay your faculty well at all levels?” said Steiner Heyward.
She said anyone who becomes Oregon’s governor in January should try to “not immediately change” the leadership of the Oregon Department of Health.
“Are they perfect? No,” said Steiner Heyward. “Are they very good? Yes.”
No rush to move, she said: “Don’t fire people right away.”
Wlnsvey Campos MP D-Aloha said affordability should continue to be a focus.
“We must continue these conversations about how to make healthcare affordable,” said Campos.
You can contact Ben Botkin [email protected] or via Twitter @benbotkin1.
