Ore. plans community-based healthcare

A new healthcare initiative in Oregon calls for creating locally based teams providing a wide range of medical, dental, mental health and preventive care. Under legislation signed in June by Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat and former emergency room physician, the state will create community-based "coordinated-care organizations" licensed and monitored by the state and governed by a board of healthcare providers, consumers and local governments, Stateline.org reported. Kitzhaber said the approach will save money, keeping people healthier and reducing the amount of treatment they need while ensuring all patients receive necessary care and support services for one fixed fee per customer. Services could be as varied as giving rides to a woman who needs prenatal care, providing substance abuse or mental health treatment or ensuring patients discharged from hospitals receive follow-up treatment to avoid unnecessary readmissions. Oregon tried to simulate the coordinated-care organizations with teams from hospitals, mental health facilities and other healthcare and social service providers managing a group of Medicaid patients, nearly all with more than one chronic disease as well as mental and substance abuse problems. Along with supervising medical care, the teams helped patients find transportation, change unhealthy lifestyles and improve their living conditions. "The results were dramatic," said Mike Benetto, Kitzhaber's health policy adviser. Specific details and specifications for the program are expected to receive final legislative approval in February 2012. The coordinated-care organizations are to first be the sole care providers for the state's 600,000 Medicaid beneficiaries but Kitzhaber hopes they will later serve the 300,000 state employees, then possibly, small businesses and universities. Eventually, supporters hope the organizations will be available to anybody who wishes to sign up. But Benetto said first "they will have to demonstrate their value" by improving treatment outcomes while saving money and winning the support of consumers.