AllCare Health Pushing for Long-Term Sustainability for CCOs

Ensuring Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs) can make a meaningful impact in their communities through investments in local partners and providers requires long-term contracts, says Jennifer Gustafson, Community Engagement Director at AllCare Health.

“That’s absolutely vital,” said Gustafson, Community Engagement Director for AllCare Health. “When you don’t have that stability, then our community partners don’t necessarily have those supports that are needed to continue improving the health and wellness of our communities across any service area.”

AllCare Health is the CCO serving parts of southwest Oregon, including Jackson, Josephine, Curry, and southern Douglas counties. Gustafson pointed to their relationship with BROOKINGS CORE Response, a nonprofit that offers street outreach and housing services. AllCare recently invested $175,000 into a navigation center with CORE Response that will help provide services to 1,000 people facing homelessness in Curry County.

“That sort of relationship with organizations cannot be built if you don’t have local CCOs placed in the community with long-term sustainability in contracting from the Oregon Health Authority,” Gustafson said.

That isn’t the only major project AllCare is supporting with its community partners. And every CCO in Oregon is making similar investments tailored to their communities.

AllCare has also recently approved a $200,000-plus grant for the new Cow Creek-Sunny Wolf Community Center in Glendale, which will bring key services including nutritional programs, youth athletics, tutoring, and support for low-income families and individuals.

“It really will provide a unique opportunity to have true services in a very rural, isolated community,” Gustafson said. She added that the center will have kids from high school who go through the food handler process to serve meals for seniors and other people in need, while also having space for a police substation for state and county services.

“So, this is really changing generations and generations of people who live in Glendale,” Gustafson said.

Across AllCare’s service area, Gustafson said they invested more than $500,000 in food services last year — particularly through the “Double Up Food Bucks” program, allowing families enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to double their benefits when buying fresh produce at farmers markets, farm stands, and grocery stores.

AllCare has also invested more than $2.2 million in housing over the last year, Gustafson said. Those investments created 708 new housing units while helping 6,500 people navigate housing services and keeping more than 5,000 people housed across Southern Oregon.

If CCOs are going to be expected to continue delivering results like these, Gustafson re-emphasized it will take strong partnerships backed by long-term contracts.

Additionally, she said longer contract terms could improve relationships with health care providers for CCOs.

“We want to make sure that our providers know that we’re going to be around for a long time,” Gustafson said. “Especially if you look at some of our more demographically challenged locations like Curry County … We need to let them know that we’re here and we’re going to support them, so that they stay in our region.”