The chair of Oregon’s House health care committee, Mitch Greenlick, has outlined plans to change the way coordinated care organizations are run.
CCO’s were designed to cut costs and improve the health of Oregon’s 1 million member Medicaid population.
After five years in operations, the state is negotiating new CCO contracts and Representative Mitch Greenlick wants some changes.
Greenlick wants board meetings to be open to the public. He also wants all CCO funds to be spent exclusively on public health.
Jesse O’Brian, with the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, was one of many consumer experts backing the idea at a public hearing Wednesday, “We think creating more openness and accountability in CCO governance is important to ensure that the public can access places where critical decisions are being made about the use of public dollars,” he said.
Three years ago, Lane County’s CCO was purchased by an out-of-state corporation over loud local objections.
Some CCO’s support the new bill. But a group representing more than half of the care organizations says opening board meetings to the public could discourage innovation.
Copyright 2018 Oregon Public Broadcasting
