Hillsboro

Oregon 3rd District Congressman David Wu will hold a town hall at Good Sam Hospital in Portland on Tuesday, August 11th.

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.

Hosted by SAFE: United for a Healthy Oregon, you're invited to a reception to celebrate Oregon's big step forward on health reform with the passage of HB 2009 and HB 2116. IF you have questions you can call Chris Coughlin at 503-312-8178.

Wear your WCDB t-shirt if you have one; if you don't have one let us know and Erick will get one to you for the next event! 

Archimedes member Roberta Hall will be interviewing nurse practitioner Ruth Palma, who discusses her profession, current problems in the health care system and the need for universal health care.

The interview is part of KBOO's Health and Health Care Forum, radio series that provides a window into today's health care by interviews with diverse people involved in it. One goal of the programs is to help the public expand its horizons about needed changes, and hence reduce fear and increase support as changes are planned.

The show will be aired on KBOO fm radio (90.7 Portland, 91.9 in the Columbia Gorge, and 100.7 in the Willamette Valley) from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Mondays. The program is hosted by Roberta Hall, co-leader of the Corvallis Archimedes chapter and produced by her and Joe Magner of Anabyte Recording and Electronics, Corvallis.   

If you enjoy the show, let Kathleen Stephenson know; she is KBOO morning news editor (amnews@kboo.org). The show is also available to community radio stations in other parts of Oregon, who can contact Hall for information (rhall@oregonstate.edu). 

In September, the Oregon Health Fund Board (OHFB) will hold a series of public meetings across the state to share details and gain feedback on its draft plan for reforming health care and building a healthy Oregon. For more information contact 503.373.1538.

The draft will be available in early September. OHFB staff will be presenting it across the state and want your feedback before finalizing their report in October; your comments will be summarized and forwarded with the Final Report to the Governor and Legislature.

This will be a Town Hall style forum designed to encourage both feedback and dialog.

Audience members are asked to focus comments on concepts being presented; limit comments to no longer than 2 minutes per speaker to allow as many people as possible to speak. Comment cards will be distributed. Attendees may leave written testimony at the end of the evening.

Health care is on everyone's mind. Health insurance costs, quality of care, access in our communities - there are many concerns which affect us all. While the health care system is broken, there’s currently a process in place to fix it.

Oregon leaders are developing a proposal for quality, affordable health care for Oregonians. But what does that mean for you?

Join us at a community near you for an important discussion on health care in Oregon. These events are free and open to the public. Your input will help shape the future of health care in our state. Everyone’s voice matters:

• people with or without health care
• employers
• seniors
• people with disabilities

You can also get involved in the conversation online at a new website on health reform in Oregon. Share your views at www.talkhealthreform.org.

Brought to you on behalf of the Oregon Health Fund Board by:

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel will be in Portland, OR, on January 30 for appearances before academic, business, civic and health providers to discuss the need for comprehensive healthcare system reform and the role of HealthCare Vouchers in truly fixing what ails the system.

Dr. Emanuel can be heard at either of two public appearances. The first event will be hosted by the Oregon Health Forum and will begin at 11:30 at the Governor Hotel. For more information consult their Website, http://www.healthforum.org/events/Emanuelluncheon.html.
The second event will be sponsored by the Portland City Club and will take place at the City Club Commons starting at 6:00. For more information consult their Website, http://www.pdxcityclub.org/. Both events are open to the public.

HealthCare Vouchers is the brainchild of two prominent healthcare professionals. Dr. Emanuel is the Chair of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health; he is also a breast oncologist. Victor Fuchs is the Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., Professor ofEconomics and of Health Research and Policy, emeritus, Stanford University.