COHO Members Testify to Senate Health Care Committee

This Monday, two members of the Coalition for a Healthy Oregon testified to the Senate Health Care Committee on their provider support strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Jeanne Savage, Chief Medical Officer of Trillium Community Health Plan, and Will Brake, the Chief Operating Officer of AllCare Health represented our association to the Senate Health Care committee, sharing succinctly the many different innovative solutions our CCOs have dreamt up to help keep provider doors open through this crisis.

Dr. Savage testified on her perspective as a physician herself, sharing that her role as a provider helped her see the needs in the community, because she saw them in her own practice. She detailed some of the many investments Trillium has made in their community to ensure that providers were able to maintain staffing capacity and see OHP members. Will Brake followed Dr. Savage, detailing the interpreter services delivered by AllCare, and putting an incredible fine point on the fact that AllCare (like many CCOs) also pay providers a monthly rate instead of per-member reimbursement for services.

A few days before the committee hearing, Brian Neuubert, the Legislative Policy and Research Office (LPRO) Analyst for the Senate Health Care Committee reached out to request COHO’s help in finding members of our CCOs to testify on CCO provider supports.

COHO got to work brainstorming a representation that would share both an urban and rural perspective, so legislators could have a clear understanding of what is happening on the ground. Trillium Community Health Plan was excited to share the many ways they have been aiding providers, and identified Dr. Jeanne Savage, both the CMO and a provider that serves Trillium as the perfect person to deliver our message.

AllCare Health was equally excited to join in on the conversation, and helped us determine that Will Brake, the COO and member of the Metrics and Scoring Committee run by OHA, would be another amazing messenger.

Thank you for your willingness to participate, and your wonderful representation of both rural and urban CCOs.

To read more about investments made by Trillium Community Health, click here. To read more about investments made by AllCare Health, click here.

Trillium

AllCare