Workforce development
We are working in partnership with labor unions and legislators on solutions that rebuild the pipeline of health care workers.
We support 61 hospitals in providing the very best care to millions of Oregonians. Our focus is on advancing a policy agenda that addresses hospitals’ current and long-term needs to sustain a health care system generations of Oregonians can rely on.
We are working in partnership with labor unions and legislators on solutions that rebuild the pipeline of health care workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the broken model of health care financing. That’s why in the Legislature for the next two years we will support fully funding Medicaid and other programs to ensure access to care and bring financial stability to our hospitals.
Every day, bureaucratic inefficiencies and staffing shortages mean that hundreds of patients wait to be discharged to a more appropriate care setting. We are committed to promoting collaboration between state agencies and stakeholders to reduce discharge barriers and alleviate staffing shortages in post-acute settings.
In order for health care workers to care for their communities no matter the circumstances, hospitals must be adaptable. We are working to reduce the burden of unnecessary regulation on our hospitals so they can direct resources to patient care.
Oregon’s community hospitals are under extreme financial strain. They have already made difficult trade-offs to keep their doors open, impacting emergency care, maternity care, and behavioral health services in communities across Oregon.
Oregonians depend on access to hospital services. For hospitals to continue to serve our communities and maintain vital services, they need to be paid enough to cover the cost of care. We support protecting coverage for those on the Oregon Health Plan by reauthorizing provider taxes and increasing Oregon Health Plan payments to hospitals so they can serve all Oregonians.
When hospitals can’t transfer patients to the next appropriate level of care, fewer beds are available for community members in need. “Boarding” patients in hospital emergency departments can negatively impact their health. We support creating more timely access to long-term services supports for Oregon Health Plan members by presuming their eligibility for coverage and extending their benefits for skilled nursing facility-level care.
Insurance companies are using tactics such as automatic claims denials and burdensome prior authorization requirements that increase costs for hospitals and providers— putting patients at risk by delaying care. We support making it easier for patients to understand and access health care benefits and improving utilization management, claims processing, and patient billing.
In the 82nd Oregon Legislature, a “short session,” lawmakers were focused on finding bipartisan solutions for critical issues like housing, homelessness, behavioral health and Oregon’s addiction crisis. While two-year budgets are set in odd-year sessions, the legislature made a significant investment in the DSH 3 program, helping preserve access to care for Oregonians who are uninsured or on Medicaid.
The hospital association partnered with lawmakers, labor unions and other key stakeholders to achieve key objectives.
The Hospital Association of Oregon’s federal public policy agenda is designed to bolster our members’ efforts to provide Oregonians with the highest quality care. With our active involvement, members have a voice in the federal policymaking process.
Advocating for better health care policy is a team sport, and we need your help. That’s why we’ve built a coalition committed to improving health care delivery in Oregon.
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Protected access to care.
Drug companies are aggressively trying to reduce patients’ access to care. The hospital association played a leading role in advocating for legislation that helps ensure lower-income and rural patients can access urgently needed medications. The bill—HB 4028—successfully passed out of the Joint Committee on Rules, helping lay the groundwork for further discussion in the legislative sessions to come. The hospital association also successfully advocated for nearly $1 million in funding to increase hospitalized patients’ access to public guardians.
Supported hospital staff.
Working collaboratively with lawmakers, the Oregon Nurses Association, district attorneys, law enforcement and other groups, the hospital association worked hard to negotiate and advocate for HB 4088, a bill that would make an assault on a health care worker a felony and create a grant program to support enhanced security measures and training. Though the bill didn’t pass, it did make it further in the legislative process than similar bills from prior sessions, helping advance the conversation about workplace safety for health care workers.
Helped stabilize hospitals’ finances.
DSH 3 supports Oregon hospitals that serve a high proportion of low-income and uninsured patients. The hospital association was able to successfully secure $92 million in funding for this essential program, ensuring vulnerable populations can continue accessing vital health services.
We all feel the impacts of health care policy decisions made both in Salem and Washington, D.C., and it is our mission to educate legislators and policymakers on the full range of consequences of their proposed legislation. When legislators are grounded in the hospital perspective, they will have a more comprehensive understanding of how their decisions will affect our patients, staff and communities.
The hospital association helps our members speak with a collective voice on important policy matters, and your participation is vital to that effort.
Our federal policy agenda guides the hospital association in addressing the challenges hospitals face as they seek to fulfill their missions of serving the health needs of their communities. It is aligned with the American Hospital Association’s policy agenda and is based on principles that have guided the hospital association’s public policy development for several years. These principles are:
We are proud to advocate for federal policies that support hospitals so they can support Oregonians.