June 1, 2012 OHA Director's messages on the web
To: All OHA employees
From: Bruce Goldberg, M.D., Director

Getting ready for coordinated care

"For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."
~ African proverb

As you may have heard, OHA has completed an important step toward contracting with new Coordinated Care Organizations. The Certification Team reviewed the applications for the core CCO criteria related to governance, community engagement, access and integration.

Eleven applicants were found to be on the path toward providing truly coordinated care in the locations listed here and meeting the requirements of SB 1580. Others have been invited to resubmit their applications.

The provisionally certified CCOs will move forward to the contract negotiations phase, submission of the additional information required by OHA, and final CMS approval.

By the end of June we will know which organizations will ultimately be certified to be CCOs and when they will begin enrolling Oregon Health Plan clients. I am heartened by the strong commitment from the local communities and health system to move forward as quickly as possible toward coordinated care.

At OHA we are working hard to support the new CCOs for truly coordinated care. We are also making sure that our own systems and policies break free from the constraints of today's fragmented and inefficient health system.

While we don't know yet exactly what the future will bring, we do know change is coming and it is coming fast. We must be ready and I know we will be.

OHA on the web