From the birth of a child to lifesaving surgery, Oregonians turn to their community hospital in times of need and when crisis strikes. Hospitals are more than just a place to get care, they are part of the fabric of our communities. They are where we work, where we go when it’s the only place to get help, and where we experience some of the most impactful moments of our lives.
But their ability to keep serving Oregonians the way we’ve come to expect is at risk.
For the past four years, Oregon’s community hospitals have been under extreme financial strain. Hospitals aren’t paid enough to cover the costs of providing care. Every day their doors remain open to us, they risk a future where they cannot provide the same level of services they do today.
Hospitals have already had to make difficult trade-offs to keep their doors open. As a result, emergency care, maternity care, behavioral health, and other vital services in both urban and rural communities are increasingly under strain.
Simply put, hospitals need our help.
One of the most important things that we can do is to ensure hospitals are paid enough to make ends meet.
Government programs, namely Medicare and Medicaid (known as the Oregon Health Plan), are responsible for more than two-thirds of all hospital utilization in our state. For some Oregon hospitals, more than 75% of patients are on Medicare or the Oregon Health Plan. And the low payments from these government programs are threatening hospitals’ ability to maintain access to care.
The Oregon Health Plan, for example, only pays hospitals 70 cents for every dollar of care they provide, and Medicare, only 82 cents. In 2022, the difference between hospitals’ cost of providing care and the amount paid by the Oregon Health Plan was $1.1 billion dollars—a number that was 20% higher than the year before. Enrollment in government-funded health plans has only continued to increase, which ironically puts hospitals under greater and greater strain.
Hospitals are honored to care for the most vulnerable Oregonians. But to do that and remain strong and viable in their communities, they must be paid for the services they provide. This is a value statement, but also a simple math equation. It is impossible for some hospitals to keep the doors open when the Oregon Health Plan only pays 70 cents on the dollar. We need to find a way for Oregonians to get the care they need, while covering hospitals’ cost of providing care.
It’s past time we had a conversation about Oregon’s broken model for paying for the care of nearly one in three Oregonians on the Oregon Health Plan and addressing the urgent need for sustainable funding.
Hospitals are foundational to our communities’ health, economic stability, quality of life, and resilience—they have been there for us, and now it’s time for us to be there for them. Let’s prioritize a health care system built on a foundation of healthy hospitals that serves everyone in our communities, ensuring a healthier future for our state.
