Governance Board May 2025
The Governance Board for the UHP met May 15, 2025.
Summary by Sandra Coyner, HCAO/HCAO-Action (SandraCoyner@hcao.org)
This five-hour meeting (including a lunch break) consisted of announcements, review, strategic planning and a visit from former Governor John Kitzhaber.
The review included a slightly reworded statement of the GB’s mission, still in process; a complex chart juxtaposing committee deliverables with consultants’ deliverables; and a draft timeline. The draft mission and the draft timeline were (and are) not available in the online materials made available to the public. Expectations for community engagement in the summer need to be revised.
The strategic planning included a visual exercise to discuss feelings at this difficult juncture, and also a great deal of brainstorming on “where is the health care system now, where do we want to be, and what will we do to get there.” In comments, board members identified a number of specific points, most of which will already be familiar to people who have been watching this process. Notable new-ish concerns included getting more specific about what “transparent” and “accountability” mean, and exactly how the regional entities might work. Other previously-discussed issues were also mentioned: How will this all be paid for? How will providers be paid? How will health care actually be delivered and tracked? How will costs be contained? Reserves? Workforce? Consistent with expectations for brainstorming and strategic planning, these issues were raised but not resolved at this time. Committees will be asked to think about all this and the timeline will be revised. The complex (and beautiful) visual representation of this brainstorming session is also not available to the public (yet?)
Gov. Kitzhaber delivered a prepared speech focused around several points, including:
The UHP is not a goal, it is a means to the goal of better health for Orgonians, and fixing finances will not achieve that goal. [Note from sc: this is almost a textbook example of a part/whole fallacy and letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.]
KItzhaber was sharply critical of many aspects of the current system, but diagnosed the problem as “we need more money.” Shifting relationships among components of the system (eligibility, benefits, copays, reimbursements) will not produce more money. He said the Task Force said none of these could be changed, though the OHP he created did allow for benefits to be changed under certain circumstances.
In response to questions, he commented on local/ regional entities, stating his belief that they could hold costs down and should be risk-bearing (presumably referring to the CCO’s he helped create.) {Note from SC: Kitzhaber did allow that these were his beliefs, not based on any evidence he presented.]
