Operations May update
The Operations Committee of the UHPGB met on May 22, 2025.
Summary by Sandra Coyner, HCAO/HCAO-Action (SandraCoyner@hcao.org)
In a top-of-meeting activity that E.D. Mimi McDonell has created and that may become standard for all committee meetings, the Committee saw a few bullet points about what each of the other committees was doing.
Chair Bruce Goldberg and E.D. McDonell, who were at the Governing Board meeting on May 15, praised the GB strategic planning activity. Chair Goldberg said approvingly that the “Board began to sort out what are the key tasks” and letting minutiae fall by the wayside. He also summarized Gov. Kitzhaber’s speech to the GB as criticizing the current system as too expensive, too complex and inefficient. He could not say whether Gov.K is “on board” with the GB’s work, referring those who want to know to ask Kitzhaber himself.
For its own work, the committee reviewed staff member Kim Yee’s chart that juxtaposes what contractors Milliman and HMA are assigned to do for this (Operations) committee and what the committee is charged to produce. Next the committee reviewed Chair Goldberg’s slides listing tasks and deliverables for the committee. Discussion on these items was pretty much limited to the importance of mission/values, need to include all voices in the structure; level of detail to be included; who is working on regional entities (answer seemed to be: other committees and the Board itself); what operations the regions should do; and inviting Kaiser or similar expert to tell us how they handle operations–this was discussion, not decision-makng.
Being ahead of schedule, the committee skipped its planned break and moved to considering the list of specific questions the committee will ask of consultant Milliman. Added to the list presented by Chair and staff was liabilities (beyond the standard risk-bearing that is an issue for regional entities). Committee members are invited to send their ideas to be put on this list of questions.
In reflections on the meeting, Chair Goldberg noted that the committee had had a slow start, waiting on the contractors, and may need to meet more than once a month in the future. How subcommittees work (especially in relation to public meeting laws) was discussed. E.D. McDonell noted that staff are working to create a central repository or library of approved documents and are open to receive suggestions from committee members. The meeting adjourned after about an hour, two hours before its scheduled ending. There was no public comment or feedback in the committee on the key items from the previous meeting (e.g. Public Corporation, creating a treasury fund, and what to do to facilitate getting waivers).
