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 Each month, Oregon Health Forum will post highlights from its latest 12-page issue to give you a taste of what's available. We encourage you to subscribe now to get the full month's serving of news, insight and statistics on health care in Oregon. September 2007 State invests in translational research After many false starts, it’s difficult to say when, even whether, a vibrant, sustainable biosciences industry will root itself in Oregon. But a modest infusion of capital from the Legislature at the end of the last session has organized university researchers, venture capitalists and other stakeholders around parts of the translational research process that had previously been neglected in Oregon. Translational research takes a concept hatched in the lab to the marketplace or, in the case of biosciences research, from the bench to the bedside. On July 26, the governor signed legislation allocating $5.25 million to the newly formed Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute (OTRADI), part of the Oregon Innovation Council’s plan to fuel the state’s economy by establishing signature research center initiatives. Profits fall for OHP contractors The state’s Oregon Health Plan contractors barely kept their heads above water in 2006. The 13 plans recorded a combined profit margin of less than 1 percent, according to audited financial statements supplied by the Division of Medical Assistance Programs that include all corporate activity. That’s a large drop from 2005, when the plans earned 8.46 percent in profit. Jeff Heatherington, president of FamilyCare, said the downward spiral is likely to continue for at least one more year. FamilyCare lost $474,442 in 2006, compared to 2005, when it made $2.8 million. “Everyone is seeing a considerable downturn,” he said. Children’s Wraparound committee serves up final recommendations It’s a wrap. A steering committee charged with developing a statewide plan to integrate care for children with severe emotional, behavioral or substance abuse problems presented its final recommendations earlier this month. It’s now up to the Children’s Wraparound Project Team to package the work into a final report that the governor will be urged to sign this fall. The final recommendations mark the end to an aggressive summer in which teams of providers, mental health officials, school district representatives and other stakeholders banded together to debate how the plan would be financed, locally implemented and structured. “A large group of people took off their individual hats and focused on what’s best for children and families in need of behavioral health,” said Erinn Kelley-Siel, the governor’s health and human services policy advisor.
James Whitfield spent little time brooding about a failed 2004 Washington State Senate run. Less than a year later, he was recruited from his job as a senior community relations officer for Washington Health Foundation to serve as Health and Human Services director for Region 10, which includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska. Whitfield oversees more than 400 employees and is charged with carrying on the work of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in the country’s Northwest corner. The former insurance agent recently took some time to chat with Oregon Health News Editor-in-Chief Tim Stumm about the insurance industry, the path to universal health care and a controversial new CMS rule that redefines states’ abilities to expand federal health programs to reach more children. The interview is edited for brevity and clarity. For the full transcript, visit the What’s New section of our Web site, www.healthforum.org. OHN: You were recently in Portland for the Medicare Tour Bus, which I understand is traveling around the country to promote the preventive benefits of Medicare. JW: The only way to improve the health of all Americans is to take better care of our bodies in the first place. As a nation we are going to have to focus more attention on prevention in order to make sure that we can actually begin to break down the cost of care. We know we can’t continue to pay for the care that people are receiving at the rates currently charged. State examines other licensing boards after nursing board audit Chiropractors, optometrists and radiologic technologists breathed a sigh of relief in 1997 when a bill that would have consolidated their boards under one roof was defeated. Representatives of the state’s smaller health care regulatory agencies, however, are once again biting their nails because of renewed talk of a so-called “superboard.” Also in this issue...
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