Policy Papers - Health: Reforming Care and Cost, Promoting Well Being
- Health Care Task Force
OBC has played a leading role in supporting healthcare reform and better health outcomes since early in 2004 when we formed a Health Care Task Force to look at health care costs and related issues. Recommendations of the task force white paper, “A New Vision for Healthcare” were incorporated in the 2005 Oregon Business Plan and in much of SB 329, which emerged from the 2005 Legislature. That legislation created the Oregon Health Fund Board, which was charged to develop the blueprint for state health care reform. In 2009, that board’s blueprint led to HB 2009, which formed the Oregon Health Authority and directed it to overhaul state health policies, governance, and services.
OBC and its members continued to work with the state, supporting its reformed Medicaid service delivery under the Oregon Health Plan. Primary features of the reform, adopted in 2011, include coordinated care, better communications between providers, and a capitated payment system.
Coordinated care for 90 percent of the Oregon Health Plan’s 971,000 members was carried out through 15 Coordinated Care Organizations (COOs) around the state. A number of health care providers and insurers in OBC were key players in the development of Health Share of Oregon, a CCO serving Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties.
- Oregon Business Plan Health Care Roundtable
In 2013 the Oregon Business Plan Health Care Roundtable, successor to the OBC Health Care Task Force, updated the Business Plan’s Vision for Healthcare, building on the foundation set in 2005.
The updated vision provided greater emphasis for employers to move toward defined contributions to fund health benefits and offer a choice of plans. It favored greater movement toward integrated delivery systems that better align quality, lower costs, and yield higher satisfaction. And it urged action to increase health among Oregonians.
- Oregon Healthiest State
Behaviors and environment make up 70 percent of the factors that influence health. Yet medical services make up 96 percent of national health care expenditures—and prevention only 4 percent. The Oregon Healthiest State project was created to help Oregon communities focus on the behaviors and environments that make health more robust and medical care less necessary.
In 2016, Oregon’s health outcomes lagged behind those in other states. The state’s ranking in the Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index was at No. 24 with particularly low scores in sense of purpose, physical health, and financial well-being. Oregon had one of the country’s highest rates of childhood dental disease. Less than 50 percent of employees were satisfied with their work environment. Nearly one-quarter of children were overweight or obese. Of Oregon’s approximately 3.8 million residents, close to 137,000 adults and 39,000 children lived with a serious mental illness. Some 270,000 people per month ate meals from emergency food boxes in Oregon.
OHS tackled these challenges with two key strategies. The input of hundreds of stakeholders helped OHS understand that local community-led transformation is the most effective strategy to improve well-being outcomes in Oregon. We strove to engage and support communities to make healthy choices accessible for all Oregonians through the Blue Zones Project.
- Blue Zones Project
Brought to Oregon by Cambia Health Foundation, Blue Zones Project was a community-wide initiative to help make healthy choices easier for Oregonians. Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls and Cambia Health Foundation co-sponsored Klamath Falls as the first demonstration community. Three additional demonstration communities were selected in 2016: The Dalles, Grants Pass, and the Umpqua region.
Cambia Health Foundation provided lead funding for Oregon Healthiest State, with local funding partners also investing in the transformation effort in their respective communities.