Feds OK Oregon Medicaid CCOs, ready $1.9B in funding

The federal government has granted Oregon a waiver to run Medicaid coordinated-care organizations and will provide enhanced Medicaid money -- $1.9 billion over five years -- for the program.

The Oregonian: Oregon Awarded $1.9 Billion Federal Funding Pact, New Flexibility For Health Care Reforms
The federal government has formally approved reforms to the Oregon Health Plan as well as $1.9 billion to support them, meaning changes to the Medicaid-funded program in Portland and around the state. State officials today announced that the federal Health and Human Services has granted more flexibility by amending a waiver for Oregon's transformation initiative, intended to cut costs while improving care to the Medicaid-funded OHP. The waiver includes the first formal approval of a tentative agreement for federal funding that made national headlines in May. Gov. John Kitzhaber, who personally helped negotiate the pact, called it the "final building block to creating a better model of care, and Oregon is ready to demonstrate how local communities can lead the nation in keeping people healthier over the long term in a more effective way" (Budnick, 7/9).

Modern Healthcare: Feds Approve Oregon's Medicaid Coordinated Care Initiative
Oregon has received federal approval and promises of enhanced Medicaid funding to begin treating thousands of patients through provider networks called coordinated-care organizations whose goal is to use prevention and coordination of mental and physical health care to reduce overall costs. The CMS on Monday approved Oregon's Medicaid demonstration program, which comes with $1.9 billion in additional funding over five years to help improve and coordinate care for many of the state's 600,000 Medicaid recipients (Carlson, 7/9).