Central Oregon health care partners earn $23.5 million in bonus Medicaid funding for exceptional care
KTVZ
Update: Adding video
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Central Oregon Health Council announced Friday that the region’s health care partners have brought home about $23.5 million in bonus Medicaid funding for providing exceptional care to the communities they serve.
Here’s the full Health Council announcement about the bonus funding:
This achievement reflects the outstanding performance of the Central Oregon CCO, PacificSource Community Solutions, aided by a regional network of Medicaid providers and clinics, the public health departments and the hospital system, in meeting the Oregon Health Authority’s Quality Incentive Measures (QIMs).
The QIMs are metrics designed to assess health care processes and outcomes, ensure that the state’s CCOs, or Coordinated Care Organizations, are serving members of the Oregon Health Plan well, and reward performance. CCOs can earn incentive payments by meeting or exceeding these annual benchmarks.
OHA recently announced the 2024 incentive program results, and PacificSource met 13 of 15 QIMs to achieve a 100% payout, as well as 4 of 4 challenge pool metrics, earning $23.5 million.
These funds will be distributed to participating health care providers, awarded to social service organizations that contribute to expanding access or closing care gaps, and used to support providers and innovative programs that continue to advance quality care.
For years, COHC has coordinated a monthly Central Oregon QIMs Workgroup, bringing together hard-working health care partners to collaborate on strategies and share best practices to improve the delivery of care.
These efforts have helped Central Oregon to achieve ambitious performance benchmarks, which also align with the Regional Health Improvement Plan and its focus on improving access to and quality of healthcare.
“We should celebrate our health care providers — primary care and behavioral health providers, dental teams — they achieved 100% of the goal because of the quality care they provided to the Medicaid population,” said MaCayla Arsenault, COHC’s Director of Quality. “This means around $23.5 million coming back to the region to continually improve services, enhance quality of care, and support our communities.”
About the Central Oregon Health Council The Central Oregon Health Council (COHC) is a nonprofit organization working to improve health outcomes and equity across Central Oregon through collaboration with health care and community partners to identify needs, coordinate solutions, and develop projects and programs that advance the goals of the Regional Health Improvement Plan.