July 19, 2010

Governor John Kitzhaber has been speaking to health care providers all over the State. Addressing the recent “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Kitzhaber wants to transform the way doctors and health care providers think about giving care. He reminds all those who attend that the bill was chiefly health insurance reform and not health care reform. Without a fundamental restructuring of the health care system, insurance reform won’t address the high costs, quality of care, or structural problems within our health care model.

Tri-Cities Journal of Business editor Mary Hopkin reports on his presentation:

Kitzhaber suggested that Oregon and Washington work together to create a regional health care-delivery system model that works. He envisions that within defined regional areas, doctors, nurses and specialists would all have access to the same information about the patients — and share their information. Physicians, he said, should work to the “top of their license” — using nurse practitioners and others in their team, wherever possible. This would help the health care system deal with its shortage of primary care physicians by extending the resources.

Kitzhaber suggests having community health professionals that would work as part of a primary care team, but be out in the community, helping find healthy solutions to patients’ environmental and socioeconomic issues.

Read the full article from the Tri-Cities Journal of Business.

http://www.johnkitzhaber.com/2010/07/19/health-care-reform-should-improve-overal...