Eugene-Springfield

We hope that you will join us for an informative evening meeting on Wednesday, December 2nd as Liz Baxter (Executive Director) of the Archimedes Movement will be speaking to community members about the current state of health reform in Oregon and beyond.

The evening's focus will be a discussion of:

• Update on the Archimedes Movement in 2009
• The current state of 'health' reform
• The 2010 February Legislative session
• Answering audience questions

We hope you will find the time to join us and others from the community for an informative evening and a lively discussion. If you have a friend or know a local organization who might like to attend – please help spread the word.

The meeting will be facilitated by local members of Archimedes Eugene/Springfield group, Health Care for All Oregon, Jobs with Justice, and the Industrial Workers of the World. All are welcome to attend. 

To find out more information - please email matt@wecandobetter.org.

Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio will hold a town hall at the Eugene City Hall on Tuesday, August 18th.

Should you attend, please speak up and ask the congressman a question. Here are some possible talking points from which you might formulate your question:

We support comprehensive health reform that would accomplish the following:

• Every U.S. resident will have access to a clearly defined set of essential health services.
• The Triple Aim will drive the design of the health care system, in that the health system demonstrates:
  • Improvement in the overall health of the defined population,
  • Reduced per-capita costs, and
  • Improvement in the individual patient experience in terms of clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient satisfaction.
• The business models within our health system must realign financial incentives to make them consistent with the Triple Aim. On example would be to look at eliminating fee-for-service billing, and instead pay providers to keep people healthy and out of the hospital.
• Prevention, health education, and wellness services will be provided and promoted.
• Disparities in access to an essential benefits package and subsequently health outcomes between people of different socioeconomic and demographic groups is not acceptable and therefore should be eliminated.
• The delivery system must be transformed to provide greater access to effective primary care and chronic disease management, while specialty care must be more effectively linked and integrated with primary care providers.
• Electronic Health Records should be developed and implemented to promote and support evidence based decisions and improved efficiency of health care delivery.
• We must include development of a competitive, publicly-funded insurance option that gives Americans affordable and fair choice in how their insurance is purchased.
• We must explicitly acknowledge that public resources are finite. Therefore, public funds must be focused on providing the services which will cause the greatest improvement in population health. Many people may be able to purchase services that are more than those that are provided as part of the essential benefit package available to all residents and they should be allowed to do so. This is true of Medicare where close to 80% of Medicare beneficiaries have some type of supplemental coverage on top of their traditional Medicare benefit. However, the core benefit must provide a sufficient floor of essential benefits so that buying additional services is not absolutely necessary in order to achieve consistent positive health outcomes.

Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio will hold a town hall at the Cottage Grove Community Center Wednesday, August 12th.

Should you attend, please speak up and ask the congressman a question. Here are some possible talking points from which you might formulate your question:

We support comprehensive health reform that would accomplish the following:

• Every U.S. resident will have access to a clearly defined set of essential health services.
• The Triple Aim will drive the design of the health care system, in that the health system demonstrates:
  • Improvement in the overall health of the defined population,
  • Reduced per-capita costs, and
  • Improvement in the individual patient experience in terms of clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient satisfaction.
• The business models within our health system must realign financial incentives to make them consistent with the Triple Aim.
• Prevention, health education, and wellness services will be provided and promoted.
• Disparities in access to an essential benefits package and subsequently health outcomes between people of different socioeconomic and demographic groups is not acceptable and therefore should be eliminated.
• The delivery system must be transformed to provide greater access to effective primary care and chronic disease management, while specialty care must be more effectively linked and integrated with primary care providers.
• Electronic Health Records should be developed and implemented to promote and support evidence based decisions and improved efficiency of health care delivery.
• We must include development of a competitive publicly funded insurance option that gives Americans affordable and fair choice in how their insurance is purchased.
• We must explicitly acknowledge that public resources are finite. Therefore, public funds must be focused on providing the services which will cause the greatest improvement in population health. Many people may be able to purchase services that are more than those that are provided as part of the essential benefit package available to all residents and they should be allowed to do so. This is true of Medicare where close to 80% of Medicare beneficiaries have some type of supplemental coverage on top of their traditional Medicare benefit. However, the core benefit must provide a sufficient floor of essential benefits so that buying additional services is not absolutely necessary in order to achieve consistent positive health outcomes.

Please join us for the monthly joint meeting of the local chapters of Health Care For All Oregon and the Archimedes Movement.
 
Weds., July 1
6:30 to 8 p.m.
EWEB Community Room
500 E. 4th Ave., Eugene

Agenda
*  Comparison of key Congressional health care positions
*  Update on Oregon health care legislation
*  Review strategies for health reform from Gov. Kitzhaber & the Archimedes Movement

It has been off and on and off again, but it has been added to the Human Services Subcommittee agenda for Thursday at approximately 1:30. It's best to check and make sure before heading to Salem. 

You can check committee information at http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/

Daily schedules are printed and can be found at http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/pubs/commsch.pdf