It seems that the folks involved with Oregon Patients Rights Association (OPRA) are not the only ones angry about what is going on regarding medical care in our community. Check out Craigslist Roseburg and see the complaints that range from DCIPA, Mercy Medical Center, Parkway Medical Supply (owned by Mercy), and the current rants going on regarding ADAPT owned Federally Qualified Health Center, South River clinic in Winston.
http://roseburg.craigslist.org/rnr/
Maybe if we all join together we can make something positive happen.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Oregon Insurance Commissioner Release Documents, Extends Public Comment Period for DCIPA/Mercy ATRIO Merger!
Oregon’s Insurance Commissioner extends public comment
period regarding DCIPA's plans to transfer ownership interest in ATRIO
(Medicare Advantage Plan) to DCIPA's new partnership with Mercy Medical Center,
Architrave. The extension was necessary
after Oregon Patients Rights Association (OPRA) made a request at a recent hearing
that additional documents regarding the application be released to the public. After the hearing, Oregon Insurance Commissioner
required more documents be disclosed and extended the time for public comment.
Anyone, with concerns about this transfer, can file
objections with the Oregon Insurance Commissioner until 5:00 p.m., Tuesday,
May, 21, 2013. According to the Insurance Commission, "Written comments
must be RECEIVED by the Insurance Division by the deadline. Written comments
may be submitted via e-mail to arussell.latham@state.or.us or by mail to
Russell Latham, Financial Regulation Section, Oregon Insurance Division, P. O.
Box 14480, Salem, OR 97309-0405."
You can read what DCIPA submitted to the state at:
http://www.cbs.state.or.us/ins/insurer/financial_regulation/acquisition-merger.html
before submitting your comments to the Commissioner.
For more information about this and other efforts by Oregon
Patients Rights Association to improve the quality of health care in our
community, please contact: Oregon Patients Rights Association (OPRA)
541-236-3083, on facebook: Oregon patents rights, blog:
http://opra4dc.blogspot.com/ or twitter.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
OPRA Monthly Meeting Tomorrow
Oregon Patients Rights Association Public Meeting tomorrow,
Wednesday, May 8th from 5 to 7 pm.
Rm 310 Douglas County Courthouse, Roseburg. First half of the meeting is business,
planning, and sharing: the second half patients’ rights education. We will be discussing the merger of DCIPA
(our local doctors group) and Mercy Medical Center via Architrave and the
problems with the growing medical monopoly in our community.
Although Mercy Medical Center is a non-profit hospital whose
mission is to provide charity, their CEO was compensated almost $700,000 during
2011, while their medical charity work dropped by about 25%. DCIPA is a private for profit entity who has
been moving to monopolize health care in our community for some time. They own the medical records company your
doctor uses, as well as one of three general durable medical equipment companies,
DMES (one of the other two is owned by Mercy –Parkway).
Because they are now attempting to join forces in a new
company called Architrave, the Insurance Commissioner for Oregon is soliciting
public comment about allowing DCIPA to transfer its 1/3 ownership interest in
ATRIO to Architrave. ATRIO is a
Medicare Advantage Plan contractor.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
More CCO Transparency Passes Out of Committee
According to the Lund Report, HB 2960, which will require CCOs to take public comment at their board meetings, as well as open their mandated Community Advisory Concils to the public, has passed out of the House committee, which means it still has a chance to become law this legislative session.
Although the majority of the 15 CCOs do open their council meetings to the public, as stated in the Lund Report article from today, "at least one -- Umpqua Health Alliance in Roseburg — holds those meetings in private and refuses to disclose the names of their council members."
Oregon Patients Rights Association has been advocating for public accountability and transparency of these CCOs since we formed at the end of last year. Our requests for information about those who serve on the Community Advisory Committee for our local CCO, Umpqua Health Alliance have been rejected by DCIPA (the private for-profit doctors' group that owns and controls UHA). It seems that this unwillingess to share even information about who is suppose to be reprenting us at these Community Advisory Councils made some lawmakers understand the problem with CCOs operating in private.
The reluctance to even tell the public who served on the public outreach body led several legislators to support the bill who earlier had been skeptical. .
“That testimony is what made me convinced that we do need this bill,” Keny-Guyer said.
Although the much stronger Senate Bill he sponsored did make it out of committee, State Senator Chip Shields understands the issue quite clearly: "CCOs are about the massive reallocation of public dollars." As such, we cannot allow them to operate in private.
Contact your state representative, particularly Tim Freeman and ask him to support HB 2960 and other demands for CCO accountability and transparency.
Although the majority of the 15 CCOs do open their council meetings to the public, as stated in the Lund Report article from today, "at least one -- Umpqua Health Alliance in Roseburg — holds those meetings in private and refuses to disclose the names of their council members."
Oregon Patients Rights Association has been advocating for public accountability and transparency of these CCOs since we formed at the end of last year. Our requests for information about those who serve on the Community Advisory Committee for our local CCO, Umpqua Health Alliance have been rejected by DCIPA (the private for-profit doctors' group that owns and controls UHA). It seems that this unwillingess to share even information about who is suppose to be reprenting us at these Community Advisory Councils made some lawmakers understand the problem with CCOs operating in private.
The reluctance to even tell the public who served on the public outreach body led several legislators to support the bill who earlier had been skeptical. .
“That testimony is what made me convinced that we do need this bill,” Keny-Guyer said.
Although the much stronger Senate Bill he sponsored did make it out of committee, State Senator Chip Shields understands the issue quite clearly: "CCOs are about the massive reallocation of public dollars." As such, we cannot allow them to operate in private.
Contact your state representative, particularly Tim Freeman and ask him to support HB 2960 and other demands for CCO accountability and transparency.
DCIPA to Turn ATRIO Shares Over to Their Joint Venture with Mercy: Architrave
In January of this year, DCIPA, LLC (a for profit private company owned by your local doctors) announced its joint venture with Mercy Medical Center (a non-profit Catholic Health Initiative charity). As part of this joint venture, DCIPA offered to bring to the partnership their share of ownership in the Medicare Advantage Plan, ATRIO. Because ATRIO is regulated by the state Insurance Division, they must hold a public hearing to decide if this acquistion complies with applicable laws and is in the best interest of the community.
This hearing is going to be held this coming Monday, April 22, 2013 from 11 am to 12 pm at Mercy Medical Center. Information about the meeting, as well as links to the Insurance Division website where you can read the proposal submitted by DCIPA and Mercy regarding this acquisiton is set out below.
If you are interested in the quality of heath care in our community, you should attend, even if you don't have Medicare or ATRIO because there are implications in this partnership that will impact every heatlh care consumer in our community.
Copy of Public Hearing Notice:
"Notice of Public Hearing
Before the Insurance Commissioner of the State of Oregon
Department of Consumer and Business Services
In the matter of the Acquisition of Shares of ATRIO Health Plans, Inc., by
Architrave Health, LLC
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Monday, April 22, 2013
Mercy Medical Center
2700 Stewart Parkway Roseburg, Oregon Conference Rooms A and B
Architrave Health, LLC, jointly owned by Douglas County Individual Practice Association, Inc. (DCIPA) and Mercy Medical Center, Inc (Mercy), is proposing to acquire the approximately 30 percent of ATRIO Health Plans, Inc. (ATRIO) that is currently owned by DCIPA. ATRIO holds an insurance license and has a Medicare Advantage contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, whereby it operates various Medicare Advantage Plans and provides Medicare covered health care benefits to qualified Medicare beneficiaries in Douglas County, Oregon. The purpose of the hearing is to permit public comment on the proposed transfer of stock.
A copy of the Form A may be examined at the administrative offices of Architrave Health, LLC, 1813 West Harvard, Suite 448, Roseburg, or at the offices of the DCBS Insurance Division, 350 Winter Street NE, Room 440, Salem. The Form A is also available on the Insurance Division’s web site at the following link: http://www.cbs.state.or.us/ins/insurer/financial_regulation/acquisition-merger.html
Written comments about the proposed acquisition of stock must be received by 5:00 p.m. on April 26, 2013. Comments should be sent to Russell Latham, Financial Regulation Section, Oregon Insurance Division, P. O. Box 14480, Salem, OR 97309-0405"
Link to Insurance Division Info re Acquistion-Merger:
http://www.cbs.state.or.us/ins/insurer/financial_regulation/acquisition-merger.html
Go to the above website and you will see:
Acquisitions/mergers–Form A filings
Pending acquisitions/mergers
- ATRIO Health Plans, Inc.
By Architrave Health, LLC, Mercy Medical Center, Inc.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
NO PUBLIC OVERSIGHT for Umpqua Health Alliance, CCO for Douglas County
Representative Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, as Chair of the House Health Committee, has put forth HB-2960, a bill that would ensure greater public scrutiny of coordinated care organizations.
According to a post online yesterday by Christopher David Gray, a reporter at The Lund Report, "... in Roseburg, Umpqua Health Alliance’s meetings are so secretive, even its community advisory council — a body created by most CCOs as a vehicle for public outreach — holds private meetings without public oversight."
At a town hall meeting held 29 March at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg Oregon, conservative Republican Representative Tim Freeman admitted that even his request for the list of members of the Community Advisory Council (CAC) for our local CCO, the Umpqua Health Alliance, had been denied. Yet, Freeman testified in Salem on Monday 15 April he is opposed to HB 2960, making CCOs subject to public meetings law.
According to a post online yesterday by Christopher David Gray, a reporter at The Lund Report, "... in Roseburg, Umpqua Health Alliance’s meetings are so secretive, even its community advisory council — a body created by most CCOs as a vehicle for public outreach — holds private meetings without public oversight."
At a town hall meeting held 29 March at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg Oregon, conservative Republican Representative Tim Freeman admitted that even his request for the list of members of the Community Advisory Council (CAC) for our local CCO, the Umpqua Health Alliance, had been denied. Yet, Freeman testified in Salem on Monday 15 April he is opposed to HB 2960, making CCOs subject to public meetings law.
“There’s nothing that keeps CCOs from having open meetings,” said Freeman, who believes different communities should be able to create their own standards of transparency. Really? The folks running our local CCO are operating on the "standard of transparency" of SECRECY (meaning NO public transparency.)
This is truly a nightmare situation for those of us living in Douglas County, where DCIPA, a private, for-profit doctors group, operates as a monopoly. Deemed by the state to be exempt from anti-trust laws, DCIPA under the leadership of Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, has been controlling the delivery of health care services, serving fewer and fewer patients while receiving millions of dollars of public funds through the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Now, with the formation of Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs) according to Gray,
"Billions of Medicaid dollars will be delegated to Oregon’s 15 coordinated care organizations, which are set up locally to deliver care within the Oregon Health Plan. They receive a global budget that must meet strict cost controls or forfeit federal money.
If successful, the quasi-public, quasi-private CCOs might be tasked with delivering healthcare for many more Oregonians in the future beyond those on the Oregon Health Plan including public employees, school teachers and administrators and people who work in the private sector."
The health and even the lives of our neighbors are at stake in the struggle to force public accountability of CCOs. Please take action now to make things right and contact Rep. Mitch Greenlick, the other members of the House Health Committee, your personal legislative representatives, and your friends and family and urge them to support HB-2960, calling for public scrutiny of CCOs.
Click here to read The Lund Report article by Christopher David Gray.
Click here to read The Lund Report article by Christopher David Gray.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Mercy CEO's Compensation over 2/3 Million $ a Year!
According to The
Lund Report, Mercy Medical Center CEO, Kelly Morgan was paid $696,946* in
compensation for 2011 broken down as follows:
Base
pay: $424,199;
Bonuses:
$179,533;
Deferred
Compensation: $58,064;
Nontaxable
Benefits: $14,218; &
Other
Compensation: $20,932.
During the same
year, the percentage of charity given by this non-profit Catholic ministry was
down by 23.7 percent, even though "profits" were up by 62.3%.
There seems to be
something wrong with this, given Mercy Medical Centers' whole point of being is
to provide charity.
*Although Morgan is
Mercy Medical Center's CEO, his salary is not officially reported on their
books because he is paid by Mercy's parent organization Catholic Health
Initiatives
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