OSPIRG applauds Oregon House passage of HB 4018

Media Releases

Media Contacts

OSPIRG

House Bill 4018A, which passed the Oregon House of Representatives this morning, is a small but important step forward for Oregon’s efforts to transform the health care system to contain costs, improve care and improve the health of our communities.

OSPIRG strongly supports the goals of Oregon’s unique Coordinated Care Model, and we believe that HB 4018A will help make CCOs more genuinely responsive to consumer and community needs—and more accountable to Oregon taxpayers. HB 4018A will make Oregon’s CCOs work better for consumers by:

  • Creating more openness and accountability in CCO governance by ensuring greater public access to CCO board meetings where critical decisions are made about the uses of public dollars.
  • Safeguarding taxpayer dollars by making sure that CCO funds are spent where they should be—on care delivery and efforts to improve the health of Oregonians—by requiring that at least a portion of CCO funds in excess of financial requirements are spent on efforts to address health disparities and the social determinants of health.
  • Ensuring a more orderly transition in the event a CCO opts not to renew its contract, which will help minimize any associated disruption for Oregon patients.

There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the CCO model lives up to its promise for Oregon consumers. HB 4018A by itself will not fundamentally transform the health care delivery system in Oregon, but its passage will make critical structural changes that will help make Oregon’s transformation efforts more successful.

The Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Health Policy Board are currently hard at work on standards for future CCO contracting that we hope will raise the bar for Oregon’s coordinated care model. HB 4018A will help create the conditions for that effort to succeed by empowering local communities across the state to hold CCOs accountable for delivering on the promise of the Triple Aim.

Today’s House floor vote is a modest but important step in the right direction. We urge the Oregon Senate to take swift action to pass HB 4018A.

*****

For more information, contact Jesse O’Brien, OSPIRG Policy Director: (503) 504-8267, [email protected]