to get the funding we needed to do an appropriate study to find out how to attract and keep rural health providers in Oregon,” said Dresser. The bill also included language that would sunset all incentive programs by January 2018. Representative Nathanson and other legislators said they had no intention of allowing the programs to sunset without a replacement program. “I am confident the study we funded this session will give us good data to make the right decisions about incentive programs,” said Rep. Nathanson. “I’m waiting to see what the results are before we make a decision on which programs to continue. There are so many programs to consider including the tax credit, loan forgiveness, and loan repayment. My colleagues and I just want to look at them in a comprehensive way and make sound decisions moving forward.” Nathanson explained “I want to look at this and see if we have the right combination of ideas and possibly increase our flexibility with a new approach.” Taking a big picture view of the programs is important. “There’s an understandable desire on the part of legislators to look at the various programs from a holistic point of view. At the same time it’s not as easy to do as one might think. We share the desire to simplify the programs and make sure no unnecessary complications exist. I can’t say that happened in 2015,” said Scott Ekblad, Director, Oregon Office of Rural Health. In the last days of the session, the Legislators passed the biennium tax credit bill. The bill included more than 10 different tax credit measures, including the credit provided to rural health care providers. “Changes made to the tax credit seemed a bit random, more of just circles on a map that have led to some areas being deemed rural when they were not before, and the change was done without any data to show if it will help or hurt access to care for rural Oregonians,” Dresser said. SB 409 Increase in Wrongful Death Cap In a legislative session, sometimes the most important success is rejecting a bad bill. In 2015, OMA and others stopped an attempt to eliminate the limit on non-economic damages within a wrongful death lawsuit. Knowing that passage of this bill would have been costly to physicians, especially those in high-risk specialties and rural areas, OMA joined a coalition to stop the proposed legislation from gaining momentum. Although the bill made it to the Senate Rules Committee, a move that kept the bill alive the entire session, OMA and coalition partners secured enough “no” commitments from Senators to keep the bill from reaching the floor for a vote. What's Coming for Next Sessions The upcoming sessions in 2016 and 2017 will be difficult for budget issues. As the federal waiver dollars to expand the Medicaid population go away, the state is left with a cliff to manage. How the Oregon Health Authority will manage this budget hole and what that looks like for CCOs, provider, and patients, is yet to be determined. “OMA and its members also need to continue examining the crisis of prescription opioid abuse in our state and what role the state and physicians and physician assistants have in curbing the crisis,” said Dresser. Finally, OMA will continue to work with our committee structure and members to look at ways to improve the practice of medicine: from administrative simplification issues to increasing the workforce in rural Oregon. During the interim, OMA staff are visiting with OMA members to see what is working, what is not and what can be done through legislative action to better the practice of medicine and better the overall health of our state. w ww.TheOMA.org Fall 2015 17
OMA Medicine in Oregon Fall 2015
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