Thursday, June 14, 2012

Oregon Health "Reforms" Need More Money

Oregon's health reforms based on "coordinated care organizations" is failing.

The 6/8/2012 Oregonian reports, "New health care groups say Oregon's reforms could sputter without more cash". From the article:
...[L]awmakers earlier this year approved ambitious reforms that would turn over the state's Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan to beefed-up managed care groups called coordinated care organizations.
Now, members of the new groups are crying foul after a directive Thursday that they'll receive no new funds for the additional responsibilities they've agreed to take on -- mental health care, prevention efforts, quality measurements and new patient-care staff, among others.
They say the success of the reforms is at risk because revamping the care of 600,000 people takes money.
(Read the full text of, "New health care groups say Oregon's reforms could sputter without more cash".)

In other words, doctors are noticing that they are being squeezed by government-run medicine and can't actually deliver the care they thought they could. Of course, the problem will simply worsen if the legislators decide that more budget cuts are necessary.

It's a good thing we would never try to implement such a crazy system at the national level. Oh, wait...

(Via Dr. Kathleen Brown.)