November 2006

CORRECTION:

An article in the November issue (It’s time to eValue8, November 2006) mischaracterized the computer program being offered to members of the Oregon Health Care Purchasers Coalition. EValue8 is used to compare the quality of different health plans and has nothing to do with rates.

“The purpose of eValue8 is to move away from looking solely at cost and to embrace value based purchasing which looks at quality parameters first through a request for information,” said Barbara Prowe, executive director, Oregon Health Care Purchasers Coalition.

One insurer may net healthy return on kids plan

When the chips fall for the proposed Healthy Kids Program one commercial health insurer may have dibs on a state subsidy worth tens of millions of dollars.

At issue is how the state will manage subsidized health insurance benefits for an estimated 49,500 children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid yet not high enough to afford a commercial plan. Right now, projections limit the subsidies to families earning up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level. The other 68,000 uninsured children will fall under Medicaid programs.

Lund-Muzikant fights dismissal from OHF

Diane Lund-Muzikant, the former editor-in-chief of Oregon Health News, has filed legal action against the organization she founded more than 16 years ago.

In a demand for arbitration, Lund-Muzikant questions a non-compete clause that was part of her employment agreement and charges that she was unfairly fired because of her age.

In a letter dated Nov. 1, her attorney Nick Fish added that members of the board defamed her by making untrue statements in articles published by Willamette Week and the Oregonian.

DMAP continues treating babies

Officials from the Division of Medical Assistance Programs are looking into a new federal policy that could make it more difficult for infants born to illegal immigrants to obtain health care in the first year of life.

In Oregon, such infants automatically qualify for Medicaid. But proposed federal rules released in June require parents to file an application and prove their child’s citizenship. The policy clarifies a commonly overlooked section of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Doctors and hospitals worry that the process could delay, or even prevent, some parents from seeking care.

“Throwing roadblocks in the midst of the complicated process of birth is shortsighted and potentially a risk to the health of a mother and child, and to the state in the form of increased costs,” said Gil Munoz, CEO of Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center.

On the record with Lee Domanico

Lee Domanico has been at the helm of Legacy Health System as its CEO and president since January. He came following a stellar performance in California’s Bay Area, where he took a struggling El Camino Hospital in Los Altos from a $13.4 million deficit in 2000 to a $20.4 million profit margin in 2004. Domanico sat down with Oregon Health News reporter David Rosenfeld to discuss current issues, his salary and his hopes for the future at Legacy.

OHN: Assuming you are now earning about the same as Robert Pallari, the former CEO of Legacy, who made more than $2.2 million in his last year, how can you justify that kind of salary?

LD: I’m probably like most people who feel they should be paid fairly according to whatever the market pays for these kinds of jobs. If I’m successful then hopefully the board will think they’ve made a good investment. One difference from the prior compensation scheme is that nearly half of my compensation is based on performance measures like patient satisfaction, physician satisfaction, quality, financial performance, employee satisfaction and growth.

Competitor questions Providence EMR subsidy for doctors

Providence Health System will begin subsidizing two-thirds of a new electronic medical record system for on-staff doctors. The announcement comes on the heels of finalized federal rules that relaxed anti-kickback and self-referral laws.

Opinions differ regarding a third legal barrier. Internal Revenue Service rules prohibit for-profit entities, in this case physicians, from benefiting from a non-profit such as a hospital.

Also in this issue...

• Mental health policy trickles down to police
  
• Universal plan to cost state, businesses
  
• State hospital spreads its wings
  
• SB 501 data not worth the wait say advocates

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