Description

This brief is a case study of Oregon’s healthcare reform. Through a series of on-the-ground interviews, the authors examined the unique ways states have leveraged their authority to improve the quality and efficiency of health care systems. Lessons learned include: states must pursue, actively, constant improvements in the system – this is beyond their usual roles of procurement and public health planning; states have authority and leverage to advance reforms in their Medicaid programs; and commercial insurers and self-insured employers are not incentivized or hooked into the same system, making universalizing reforms difficult.