Thursday, October 31, 2013

LUND Report Confirms: Freeman Gets Corporate Medicine Money

Today's article in the Lund Report confirms, Oregon Patient Rights Association claims that our local State Representative, Tim Freeman is in the pocket of our local health care monopoly.   Topping the list of donations to all Representatives in the State, Tim Freeman received a total of $33,500 just from the interests involved in formation of Coordinated Care Organizations (CCO), like our local Umpqua Health Alliance (UHA) during the last election cycle. 

This supports research done by OPRA that shows in the past two election cycles, Freeman received over $50,000 from DCIPA and Advantage Dental alone, both of whom are part of the local Coordinated Care Organization (CCO), Umpqua Health Alliance and whose leaders (Dr Bob Dannenhoffer-DCIPA, Mike Shirtcliff (Advantage Dental) claim to be part of the process of establishing CCO as the Medicaid transformation in Oregon.    

You can read the Lund Report article below or click the link to their website:  http://www.thelundreport.org/resource/coalition_of_ccos_and_doctors_groups_pour_14_million_into_elections

OPRA recommends the Lund Report for reliable information about health care related issues around the state.



Post date: Oct 31, 2013

Coalition of CCOs and Doctors' Groups Pour $1.4 Million into Elections

The Coalition for a Healthy Oregon proved an effective political counterweight to insurance, pharmaceuticals and hospital interests, backing legislation to create and strengthen CCOs.
By: 
Christopher David Gray
The combined efforts of a coalition of CCOs and doctor’s groups shelled out nearly $1.4 million in the last election cycle, roughly the same money spent by the Oregon hospital association, health insurance companies and drug companies combined.
The Coalition for a Healthy Oregon, a political action committee that represents seven coordinated care organizations, spent $478,000 since 2011 on political campaigns.
Rep. Tim Freeman, R-Roseburg, topped their list at $33,500, followed by his fellow Roseburg Republican, Rep. Bruce Hanna, who got $32,000. Sen. Arnie Roblan, a Coos Bay Democrat and former co-speaker in the House with Hanna, raked in $27,000.
All three represent parts of Douglas County, where coalition member Umpqua Health Alliance manages care for Oregon Health Plan members and the Douglas County Individual Practice Association is a prominent healthcare player. Western Oregon Health participates in the coalition and provides care in Coos and Curry counties.
Each CCO in the state has been allowed to form organically, creating different makeups at each one, but the CCOs in the Coalition for a Healthy Oregon are heavy with physician groups, while others give a more prominent role to hospital systems or insurance companies.
The other CCOs in the Coalition for a Healthy Oregon are Trillium in Lane County; Willamette Valley Community Health in the Salem area; FamilyCare in Portland; Cascade Health Alliance in Klamath Falls and AllCare in the Medford area.
Jeff Heatherington, the CEO of FamilyCare, said the organization formed a political action committee 10 years ago to comply with campaign finance law and influence health policy after the state Medicaid plan was hit with big cuts and faced an uncertain future.
“We were concerned about adequate funding for the Oregon Health Plan,” Heatherington said candidly. “Now it’s a matter of survival. We need to be at the table.”
Heatherington said bigger moneyed interests like drug companies, insurance companies and hospital systems have an outsized presence in healthcare, and the coalition allows the physician groups to even the playing field.
As a comparison, the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems spent $246,000 and 19 drug companies handed out $491,000. Leading insurer Regence BlueCross Blue Shield spent $236,000, almost entirely on Republicans, many of whom lost their elections.
The dollar amount is still lower than the combined total of four major unions — AFSCME, SEIU, the Oregon Nurses Association and the Oregon Education Association. The labor groups spent just under $2 million in the past election cycle.
SEIU spent $700,000 through two funds close to evenly split — one borne out of union dues and the other from a political action committee, Citizen Action for Political Education, in which thousands of SEIU members gave directly for political causes.
"The members are concerned about the affordability of healthcare. We're concerned about long-term care. We're concerned about worker's rights issues," said Arthur Towers, political director of SEIU. "We need to be involved in that process."
Heatherington said the coalition was effective in pushing legislation like Senate Bill 725 that gave more certainty to CCO contracts as well as keeping pressure on Salem Health to drop a lawsuit against the Willamette Valley CCO through the bad actor bill, House Bill 3309.
“It was used very prominently to get Salem Hospital to the table,” he said. “We hope that it calmed down everything.”
The bill died in the House Rules Committee, but the two parties agreed to a settlement just before the end of the session.
The coalition’s money was bolstered by doctor’s groups in several counties, including Douglas, Marion, Polk, Jackson and Josephine.
The Douglas Physicians spent $413,000, most heavily on Roblan, giving him $37,500. They also gave $28,500 to Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, despite her seat being across the state in Gresham. Monnes Anderson chairs the Senate Health Committee and wields hefty over healthcare bills.
These physicians also gave $28,500 to hometown son Hanna and $22,500 to House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland.
The doctors in Marion and Polk counties, who worked to form the Willamette Valley Community Health CCO, paid out $441,000 under their political action committee, Doctors for Healthy Communities.
The Salem area physicians favored the same cast of characters — $31,000 to Monnes Anderson; $27,500 to Roblan; $20,500 to Kotek; and $19,000 to Hanna. Their committee also disbursed $17,500 to the campaign of Sen. Alan Bates, a Medford Democrat and osteopathic physician.
Bates was not up for re-election in 2012 but he faces a tough rematch in 2014 with his 2010 nemesis, retired Marine Col. Dave Dotterrer, whom he bested by just 275 votes last time, nearly sweeping Bates out of office in the Republican Tea Party wave.
The political action committee of the Mid Rogue Independent Physician Association chipped in another $50,000, about half of which went to Bates, who practices medicine in that region. Rep. Wally Hicks, R-Grants Pass, received $9,000, followed by Kotek with $5,000.
To review previous articles on campaign finance in Oregon click here and here.
Chris can be reached at chris@thelundreport.org.




Monday, October 21, 2013

UHA, CAC to Hold 3 Public Meetings to Discuss Community Health Assessment



Here is an opportunity to find out more about our local Coordinated Care Organization (CCO), Umpqua Health Alliance (UHA).  This coming Wednesday evening (10/23/2013), at the Sutherlin Community Center, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, UHA’s  Community Advisory Council (CAC)   will reveal the results from a community health assessment and let communities know what the local Coordinated Care Organization is doing.   

Below is a link to the Health Assessment, so you can read what a group of folks who met in secret decided were the health problems in our community.  


This may be a good time for folks to ask questions of this group of people who is supposed to be representing the community’s interest in the CCO. This Community Advisory Committee is required by law and is supposed to be set up in a particular way and be the public’s vehicle to be part of the CCO process, yet UHA will not even tell us who is on it or when or where they meet.   These meetings should at least reveal who they are, or who at least some of them are.  Set out below is the Oregon law section that deals with the requirements of Community Advisory Councils (CAC).  Based on information provided to us, UHA may be violating the law regarding the make-up of the CAC.  


These meetings may be a good time to hold UHA representatives, including the CAC members there, accountable for failing to reveal the members of the CAC to the public, failing to hold all CAC meetings in public, allow public comment at meetings, and provide minutes of the meetings and related documents to the public.    


The meetings will also provide a forum for input about what you want UHA to spend our tax dollars on locally to promote healthy lifestyles, better health care services and improved medical outcomes.   


UHA’s Community Advisory Council (CAC) will also be holding meetings in Riddle, October 29th from 1:00 to 2:00 pm at Riddle Community Center, and in Roseburg from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, Ford Rm, DC Library on on the 4th of November.