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HMA Consultants Tapped as Authors for Book About Oregon Healthcare Reforms

Health Reform Policy to Practice – Oregon’s Path to a Sustainable Health System: A Study in Innovation published by Elsevier Academic Press in August, provides a real-world example of an innovative, successful, and comprehensive Medicaid program redesign conducted by the State of Oregon. HMA colleagues Tina Edlund, Jeanene Smith, Cathy Kaufmann, and Lori Coyner were actively involved in Oregon’s healthcare reform efforts and have authored chapters on the development of Oregon’s metrics and incentive program, its patient-centered primary care medical home program, and its comprehensive system of supports for delivery system transformation.

Written by clinicians, health system leaders, policy-makers, legislators, and national experts, Health Reform Policy to Practice offers an in-depth look at the state’s nationally-recognized health reforms, and explores the potential impact of the Oregon experience on national and international healthcare reform efforts.

Oregon has a history of innovation in Medicaid reform and in 2009, it embarked on a journey to improve health for all of its citizens by radically re-thinking how to approach healthcare for long-term benefits. Historically, state healthcare reform looked at cutting people from care, lowering provider rates, or reducing services. Oregon’s approach is unique in that it built a new system of delivery from the ground (community) up. The state redesigned its clinical delivery system through reducing waste, improving individual health and prevention, and therefore reducing utilization of services, creating local accountability, aligning financial incentives, and creating fiscal accountability.

The book is organized into three sections: Origins of Oregon Health Reform, Implementation of the Coordinated Care Model, and Future Implications for State and National Health Reform. Each chapter details the elements and work required, and provides clear translation of current state and federal health policy and clinical delivery best practice experience to implementation.

This is not only an Oregon story, but a national one as other states, payers, and purchasers implement healthcare reform.

About the book

Health Reform Policy to Practice – Oregon’s Path to a Sustainable Health System: A Study in Innovation Is available for purchase through Elsevier. To learn more or to purchase the book, visit https://www.elsevier.com/books/health-reform-policy-to-practice/stock/978-0-12-809827-1.

Edited by: Dr. Ronald Stock and Dr. Bruce Goldberg