Here's a Governor working to get it done.
"Not having the Affordable Care Act would have made our work much harder,"
Months after lawmakers gave their final go-ahead to state health transformation, Gov. John Kitzhaber is working behind the scenes to keep rushed deadlines on track: pushing groups to negotiate, forcing compromise and urging jittery health leaders to stay the course.
His involvement in such details is understandable for a doctor, but unusual for a governor, and reflects the high stakes and anxiety involved. The reforms require health leaders to take on faith that reduced costs and better care both can be reached without harming health providers or consumers along the way.
Providers are excited – and nervous.
"These guys have the opportunity to design their own future and that's kinda scary," Kitzhaber says. "But I imagine it was pretty scary to sail off in a ship in the 1400s, thinking that you might go off the end of the earth. They view this as being out on that part of the map that doesn't have anything on it."
Oregon's law hands the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan over to coordinated care organizations that will integrate mental, physical and dental care. The new groups will focus on prevention and chronic diseases to reduce hospital stays and cut costs. The first CCOs launch in August.
The Supreme Court ruling was technically separate and apart from Oregon's law. But the federal reforms, which expand coverage nationwide and also create care organizations, pave the way to extend the Oregon Health Plan changes to commercial health care.
"Not having the Affordable Care Act would have made our work much harder," says Bruce Goldberg, director of the Oregon Health Authority.
Last month , the federal government tentatively agreed to give Oregon $1.9 billion over five years to be a test-tube for Medicaid reform, averting major cuts to the Oregon Health Plan.
Snip.
If local providers don't join the new coordinated care groups, they risk being cut off from Medicaid. And if they don't make changes to curb rising costs, Kitzhaber warns the feds will cut reform funding.
"The federal government is not going to hand away $2 billion to prop up a hyper-inflationary health care system," he says.
Impressive, eh? we need a lot more democrats like this guy--
then we'll get somewhere.
http://www.oregonlive.com/...