Health Options Digest
August 8, 2004
Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES)
In This Issue
From the Editor
Week In Review
In a recent editorial, the Register-Guard urged both hospitals to adopt "Plan C" -- C as in Community: "Plan C might involve having a neutral, no-nonsense facilitator -- someone like University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer or former Gov. John Kitzhaber -- convene a joint meeting of the PeaceHealth and McKenzie-Willamette boards. Public officials from Eugene, Springfield and Lane County, as well as community stakeholders, could have a seat at what would have to be a large table." We hope the hospitals, both of which face significant challenges developing new facilities, will seriously consider Plan C. We hope that elected officials will rise above the "sibling rivalry" between Eugene and Springfield and put the health of the community first.
In a recent commentary, Guy Justice, who recently retired as executive director of the Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation, defended Sacred Heart as a great place to work and an asset to the community. CHOICES appreciates the critical service Sacred Heart provides. But that important role does not exempt Sacred Heart from playing by the rules and respecting other community interests when it looks to develop a large medical campus at the edge of the urban growth boundary with significant direct and indirect costs to the public.
McKenzie-Willamette withdrew its offer to purchase the EWEB site outright, apparently because EWEB is interested in signing an option agreement that will give it time to find its own new site.
In Medford, two hospital are looking to expand their facilities. Perhaps Lane County might learn from their experiences, or vice versa.
One fallout from the recent scandals in the Eugene Police Department is increased calls for independent auditing of the city's operations. Some city councilors would like to see an independent performance auditor, while City Manager Dennis Taylor is resisting such calls as undermining his authority.
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Looking Ahead
As comes as no surprise, we hear that Springfield is delaying its initial hearing on PeaceHealth's second attempt at plan amendments until late September at the earliest. While PeaceHealth is anxious to push these amendments through so it can begin construction next year, it is also probably wanting to dot its I's and cross its T's so as to hold up against likely appeals.
Our cloudy crystal ball suggests that the plan amendments won't be adopted by the Springfield City Council until early next year, and that any appeals to LUBA and the Court of Appeals won't be resolved until late next year. As such, construction wouldn't begin until 2006, if even then.
Meanwhile, McKenzie-Willamette can't begin to move to the EWEB site until EWEB has found its own site and is confident that it can relocate in a timely fashion. So McKenzie-Willamette is also stuck in a game of hurry up and wait.
Maybe "Plan C" isn't such a farfetched idea after all. Imagine if both hospitals could reach an agreement with each other, with both cities and the county, and with other key segments of our community about which hospital makes the most sense where!
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Rob Zako, Editor
343-5201
rzako@efn.org
Opportunities
City Panels Looking to Fill Vacancies
| Eugene Weekly | July 29, 2004 |
The city of Eugene is seeking volunteer applicants for committees that advise the City Council, and for one intergovernmental committee.
The recruitment period opened July 19 and continues through Sept. 24. The City Council will decide on appointments Oct. 25, and the appointments begin Nov. 1.
The following groups have vacancies to fill: Budget Committee: two vacancies; Planning Commission: two vacancies; Human Rights Commission: five vacancies; Toxics Board: three vacancies (must meet specific criteria); Historic Review Board: four vacancies; Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority: one vacancy
Interested persons must complete an application and for some bodies, a supplemental questionnaire is required. Application information is available at the City Manager's Office, Room 105, City Hall or visit http://www.ci.eugene.or.us Finalists may be interviewed by the City Council in early October. For additional information contact Mary Walston at 682-5406 or mary.f.walston@ci.eugene.or.us
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PeaceHealth
Editorial -- What about Plan C? Both local hospitals could think outside the box
| The Register-Guard | August 6, 2004 |
If you're looking for a sign about how the Eugene-Springfield hospital switcheroo involving Sacred Heart and McKenzie-Willamette medical centers will turn out, join the club.
The only dependable predictions so far have been that everyone will significantly underestimate both the duration of the delays and the overall cost to health care consumers of the musical hospitals game.
PeaceHealth continues to plod forward on a long and winding road that it hopes will lead to a nine-story, $350 million regional hospital on the banks of the McKenzie River in Springfield. Legal detours have precluded much progress, and the project's opponents have dug in like the defenders of Stalingrad.
Meanwhile, McKenzie-Willamette and its partner, Texas-based Triad Hospitals Inc., must feel like performers on the old "Ed Sullivan Show" trying to keep a half-dozen plates spinning on sticks while they juggle flaming bowling pins.
Before McKenzie-Willamette can get out from under Sacred Heart's shadow in Springfield and move to the Eugene Water & Electric Board property on the Willamette riverfront, it must navigate the state's Certificate of Need process or secure some kind of an exemption. EWEB must find a new site, then move in stages as Triad builds an $85 million hospital. This assumes all the financial details pencil out, including EWEB's promise not to saddle ratepayers with any relocation costs.
Simultaneously, the city of Eugene has to fire up its backhoes and bulldozers to complete $20 million worth of road and access improvements to the EWEB site, some of which are likely to be contentious.
All the players already have had unexpected setbacks, and no doubt some office pool in Lane County has a square on the board that represents deal-killer obstacles surfacing for both PeaceHealth's RiverBend and Triad's EWEB plans. People in both organizations may already be furiously at work on Plan B scenarios for alternate sites.
But if anything has been learned from watching two hospitals search high and low for suitable sites, it's that there aren't many. Which necessarily means both organizations might have to -- gasp -- compromise if they can't make their Plan A's happen. If that's the case, perhaps it makes sense for PeaceHealth and Triad to also be thinking about a Plan C. In this case, the C can stand for "Community."
Plan C might involve having a neutral, no-nonsense facilitator -- someone like University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer or former Gov. John Kitzhaber -- convene a joint meeting of the PeaceHealth and McKenzie-Willamette boards. Public officials from Eugene, Springfield and Lane County, as well as community stakeholders, could have a seat at what would have to be a large table.
The meeting's goal would be to seek consensus not on what would be best for the two hospital organizations individually, but on what would best serve the health care needs of Lane County's population for the next 50 to 100 years. The quest would be for broad concepts rather than specific strategies. Ideally, the session would wrap up in one day.
The hospitals couldn't lose. If no consensus emerged, it's every hospital for itself -- the same situation that exists today. But think of what might happen if lightning strikes and this roomful of disparate interests were to come up with something everyone can support.
With both hospitals working from a blueprint endorsed by local government and community organizations, there would be no incentive to play one city against another, or to protect turf. Everything would be on the table and in the open.
Unfortunately, such a meeting is almost inconceivable, given where things stand right now. Maybe in another 50 or 100 years, when the community once again faces the question of how best to upgrade its major health care facilities, the players will have learned how to avoid the mistakes being made today.
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Guy Justice -- Sacred Heart's good work largely unrecognized
By Guy Justice
The Register-Guard | August 6, 2004 |
Sacred Heart Medical Center is a great place to work -- No. 8 on the list of the top 100 employers, according to Oregon Business Magazine -- and I say that as a recent retiree from the best job I can imagine: chief fund-raiser for a great community organization.
Where else can you live in a wonderful city, work with selfless volunteers and dedicated staff and make a great medical center even better? After 17 years as the executive director of the Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation, I am leaving with profound respect that is renewed every day for the mission and values of PeaceHealth and my former co-workers, as well as appreciation for Eugene and the special and diverse people who live here.
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Slant -- PeaceHealth, etc.
| Eugene Weekly | August 5, 2004 |
Hey, it's August and where'd everybody go? Streets are nearly deserted at times. But not everyone's at the beach or in the mountains. School districts are busy filling staff vacancies in anticipation of the coming invasion. PeaceHealth lawyers are mulling over plan amendments to submit to the Springfield Planning Commission to keep RiverBend hospital alive. Springfield officials, meanwhile, are trying to get Glenwood's zip code changed from Eugene to Springfield in order to entice McKenzie-Willamette to build its new hospital in Glenwood. Neighbors in the Fairmount area east of the UO campus are pondering the potential impact of a $180 million basketball stadium at the Williams' Bakery site. On top of huge traffic, parking, noise and development issues, area residents and businesses are facing the prospect of aroma change in the neighborhood -- from fresh-baked bread to stale sweat socks.
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McKenzie-Willamette/Triad
Hospital owner pulls EWEB site buyout offer
By Joe Harwood
The Register-Guard | August 4, 2004 |
The cat-and-mouse negotiations between Triad Hospitals Inc. and the Eugene Water & Electric Board took a twist Tuesday when Triad abruptly withdrew its initial offer to buy the utility's downtown property less than 24 hours after first submitting the purchase document.
It was unclear Tuesday exactly why Texas-based Triad, the for-profit majority owner of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield, yanked the offer it made late Monday. Hospital officials could not be reached for comment.
EWEB declined to specify the amount offered by Triad, other than to say it was "near the middle" of two appraisals of the utility's riverfront headquarters.
The appraisals, released by EWEB last week, set a market value of $22 million to $24.6 million for 24 acres and the utility's administration building, so a midrange offer would be about $23 million. (more...)
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EWEB site for hospital a no-go
By Christopher Stollar
The Springfield News | August 4, 2004 |
Hopes for a new McKenzie-Willamette hospital in Eugene just sank into the banks of the Willamette River.
On Tuesday, McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center withdrew its offer to buy the 29 acres now occupied by the Eugene Water & Electric Board.
The deal fell through because EWEB, a publicly-owned utility, was legally prohibited from signing the confidentiality agreement requested by McKenzie-Willamette owner Triad Hospitals, Inc. (more...)
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Fast and Painless Update: EWEB Prefers Option
By Rosie Pryor, Director, Marketing and Planning, 744-6164, rospry@mckweb.com
McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center | August 4, 2004 |
This week, we submitted an offer to EWEB to buy its Ferry Street Bridge property. Within hours we heard from General Manager Randy Berggren that the outright offer to purchase caught him by surprise. He'd anticipated receiving an option agreement from us -- and, in fact, we forecast that we would be seeking an option and only revised it to a purchase offer at the last minute. He asked if we would consider rescinding our offer and instead enter into the anticipated option agreement in order to provide EWEB with time to find an alternative site and work through other issues related to relocation of its operations. We'll present the option agreement just as soon as it is completed.
We continue to be very interested in the EWEB property as a potential site for a replacement McKenzie-Willamette. We're excited that EWEB is moving things forward and we remain optimistic they will be successful in finding an alternative site. Questions? Feel free to give me a call or e-mail at rospry@mckweb.com
If you prefer not to receive Fast and Painless Updates from McKenzie-Willamette, please reply to this email or give me a call and we'll remove your name from our address list.
Thank you for your continued support.
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Health Care
Hospitals grow along with vicinity
| The Associated Press | August 3, 2004 |
MEDFORD -- Preparing for tomorrow's population in Southern Oregon means adding more hospital beds.
With more babies, more seniors, more surgeries and more broken legs on the way, two of the area's major hospitals are planning expansions.
Providence Medford plans to be ready for the new arrivals by adding up to 100 new beds over the next four years. The hospital also intends to double its emergency capacity and build a new outpatient surgery center on its 22-acre campus.
Providence's cross-town neighbor, Rogue Valley Medical Center, is building, too. Two years ago, RVMC started an expansion and remodeling project that will cost more than $100 million before it's completed. (more...)
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Health care most costly workplace benefit
By Kristen Gerencher
Knight Ridder News | August 6, 2004 |
SAN FRANCISCO -- The cost of providing health care to workers has surpassed that of paid leave as the most expensive benefit for employers, according to a new report.
In the first quarter of this year, medical benefits accounted for 23 percent of compensation outside of wages compared with 22.6 percent for paid leaves, including vacations and sick time, according to a study from the Employment Policy Foundation, an economic-research foundation that focuses on workplace issues.
It's the first time in the past 10 years that health-care costs exceeded the paid leave category, foundation president Ed Potter said. (more...)
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Public insurance picks up slack
| The Associated Press | August 3, 2004 |
WASHINGTON -- About 5 million children have been added to government health programs since 2001, many because their parents lost employer-sponsored insurance, according to a new study.
Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program provided a safety net for children whose parents' coverage ended or became too expensive during the economic downturn at the start of the decade, said the Center for Studying Health System Change, a private research organization in Washington, D.C. (more...)
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Letter -- Pharmacists hope LIPA improves
By Stephanie Hine, RPh, and 11 Co-signers, Junction City
The Register-Guard | August 3, 2004 |
We appreciate The Register-Guard's coverage of reported Lane Individual Practice Association abuses. As Lane County pharmacists, we hope this investigation does not get swept under the rug. LIPA CEO Terry Coplin states that these complaints stem from a few disgruntled providers (guest viewpoint, July 26), but we can attest that this is not the case. LIPA has not been provider- or client-friendly for many years.
Over the past year alone we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of hoops that physicians, clients and pharmacists have to jump through to obtain coverage for the most basic of medications. For example, LIPA now restricts pain medication, even after surgery. When pharmacists asked for help, the Office of Medical Assistance Programs finally stepped in and validated some claims, while muddling others.
When pharmacists asked OMAP for assistance with Medicaid laws and forms to better serve LIPA recipients, we were told to consult an attorney. LIPA recipients are still not receiving certain medications in a timely manner.
A delay in dispensing is only one concern of pharmacists serving LIPA clients. Since the Oregon Health Plan bases medication coverage on certain medical diagnoses and not others, many clients are left in a lurch. This places an undue financial burden on an already disadvantaged client population.
The structure of OHP needs to be revamped. We want to see the LIPA abuses stopped and measures put into place to prevent future neglect.
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Letter -- LIPA urges health plan support
By Robert Wheeler, MD, LIPA Chief Medical Officer, Eugene
The Register-Guard | August 7, 2004 |
The Lane Individual Practice Association shares community concerns about the serious limitations on Oregon Health Plan benefits, including pharmaceuticals.
When the state excludes conditions from the covered benefits of the OHP, the exclusion includes all treatments, even pain medication. LIPA has argued in Salem that pain should be prioritized separately. The Health Services Commission has not adopted that change.
LIPA does not require prior authorization for initial prescriptions after hospitalization. Hospitals don't notify LIPA about discharges, but most pharmacies take the extra step to help their OHP clients take advantage of this shortcut.
Many pain medications on the LIPA formulary can be dispensed immediately, even to treat excluded conditions. Certain expensive medications require review. Most pharmacies help the prescribing physician select an available alternative rather than make an OHP client pay cash.
In a December meeting with LIPA, some pharmacists were troubled to learn that routinely charging OHP members full retail prices in certain situations might violate state or federal regulations. Most of the 48 community pharmacists used the information from that meeting to improve their service for OHP clients.
Improving access to OHP enrollment and decreasing coverage restrictions will require effective political action.
LIPA encourages the community to use the obvious energy around this topic to increase state support for the OHP program.
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DeFazio study finds drug card lacking
By Bob Keefer
The Register-Guard | August 4, 2004 |
Oregon seniors might as well buy their prescription drugs on the Internet for all the benefit they'll get from the new Medicare prescription drug cards, according to a study released Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio.
The Democratic congressman appeared at town hall meetings in Eugene, Roseburg and Albany to talk about the 6-month-old Medicare prescription drug discount program that has enrolled about 4 million people so far.
The study, performed by the Committee on Government Reform Minority Staff at DeFazio's request, compared prices for the 10 most commonly prescribed drugs, including cholesterol-reducing Lipitor, Fosamax for osteoporosis and the painkiller Celebrex. (more...)
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Editorial -- Disappearing discounts: Study finds little benefit to Medicare drug cards
| The Register-Guard | August 8, 2004 |
There is one universally acknowledged bright spot in the otherwise deeply flawed Medicare prescription drug plan: Poor people stand to gain real financial help with prescription expenses if they sign up for the drug discount card program.
A $600 annual subsidy for people making less than $12,500 a year -- $16,800 for couples -- comes in addition to any discounts available through the Medicare drug cards. But as with everything else associated with the unwieldy Medicare reform law, the prescription drug benefit is so confusing only 1 million of 7 million eligible low-income seniors have signed up for the cards.
Beyond the additional subsidy for poor clients, drug card discounts available to seniors in general are pretty skimpy. A study released Tuesday by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., confirms that it makes more sense for Oregon seniors to buy their prescription drugs on the Internet than it does for them to tackle the bewildering Medicare drug card registration process. (more...)
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Jeffrey Morey -- Optometrists should be available to health plan patients
By Jeffrey Morey
The Register-Guard | August 4, 2004 |
Oregon optometric physicians have seen a steady broadening in the scope of their practice and services over the past two decades. It's time insurance practices caught up with this trend. (more...)
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Kulongoski visits Eugene to announce state participation in hunger program
By Matt Cooper
The Register-Guard | August 5, 2004 |
Not every kid in Oregon likes summer vacation, state Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo said Wednesday. Many of them know that, at least while school is in session, they can eat every day.
Castillo made the observation during a visit by Gov. Ted Kulongoski to Bethel-Danebo's Petersen Barn Community Center, one of 54 spots across Lane County where children from low-income families get nutritious meals during the summer break.
Oregon's status as one of the five hungriest states in the nation has pushed it to the top of Kulongoski's agenda.
Wearing a button that read "Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation," Kulongoski visited the center to raise awareness of Lane County's summer food program and to announce the state's participation in a federal program that will help ease the hunger burden. (more...)
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Oregon tribal leaders press Sen. Smith on health care
| The Associated Press | August 3, 2004 |
PORTLAND -- Oregon Indian leaders pressed for improved tribal health care in a meeting Monday with U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.
Delores Pigsley, chairwoman of the Siletz tribe, told Smith that the tribes are in the middle of a health care crisis. (more...)
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Nearby Developments
Letter -- Glenwood ready to vote council out
By Laurel Pogue-Powell, Glenwood
The Springfield News | August 4, 2004 |
The Glenwood community attended meetings to protest the urban growth boundary change from Eugene to Springfield; we called our commissioner, Cindy Weeldreyer, who ignored us. We gathered signatures on a petition and turned it in, only to have a councilor say on video tape that the signatures were forced at the point of a gun, literally. We pleaded the powers that be in Salem.
In the end, as always before with the Springfield city government, we were subjected to polls taken by a relative of Rosie Pryor (ripe nepotism in Springfield) that were worded disadvantageously for keeping Glenwood in Eugene's urban growth boundary. Glenwood will be the gateway to Springfield, they told us.
In the end as in the past, Springfield shoved it down our throats. We have learned that our voices will never be heard in Springfield and whatever Springfield wants to subject Glenwood to, it will.
The best thing Springfield can do is to annex Glenwood. Then we could show them what a strong community force we have here and vote every one of them out of city government.
Therefore, you can change the zip code, deprive our children of attending Springfield schools and keep busing them to South Eugene. Give Glenwood a real voice in your city government and you will be in the unemployment line along with the Republicans.
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City, county clash over jail plans
By Christopher Stollar
The Springfield News | August 6, 2004 |
Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken and Springfield-area County Commissioner Bill Dwyer had a spirited exchange Wednesday over Springfield's plan to build a jail. (more...)
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Editorial -- City's jail plans none of county's business
| The Springfield News | August 6, 2004 |
County Commissioner Bill Dwyer wants the city of Springfield to just back off this new jail thing. For the last several years, the county has had a lot of trouble with its jail. Criminals get checked into the "graybar hotel" and, in some cases, actually are back on the streets of Springfield before the arresting officer.
And for the last several years, the city has been considering building its own jail to address that problem. Last month, it got serious about that possibility, and is pushing to get a levy on the November ballot to build it.
At Wednesday's meeting of the Lane County Board of Commissioners, Dwyer essentially accused the city government of not being a team player. Instead of going ahead on its own, he said, the city should work with the county to get the jail resolved for everyone. (more...)
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Chief disputes county's higher estimate for jail operations
By Bob Keefer
The Register-Guard | August 7, 2004 |
How much does it really cost to run a jail?
Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith says he could operate a 100-bed municipal jail in town for $1.5 million a year. He'd like the city to build one to make sure petty criminals actually see the inside of a cell instead of constantly being turned loose from the overcrowded Lane County Jail.
That's not near enough money, says the sheriff's office, which runs the county jail. In a report presented to Lane County commissioners, sheriff's Capt. John Clague figures a Springfield jail would cost $2.5 million a year to run -- a full million dollars more. (more...)
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City deal for park slips away
By Sherri Buri McDonald
The Register-Guard | August 5, 2004 |
Novice home buyers aren't the only ones who can have an attractive property snapped out from under their noses by a savvy investor.
The city of Eugene recently missed out on an environmentally valuable 38-acre swath of steep forest off Dillard Road that it eagerly wanted to add to the 1,000-plus-acre Ridgeline Park network in the south hills.
Now, the property is in the hands of a Portland-area developer who says he's willing to sell it to the city, but only if the city pays him almost twice the $325,000 he paid for it in May. If the city doesn't buy the land, the developer has said he wants to put scores of homes there -- a prospect that has sent city parks officials scrambling for cash.
The stream-laced parcel is one of the most pristine unprotected natural areas within Eugene and Springfield, containing old-growth Douglas fir, plus habitat suitable for rare plants and a rare species of frog, the city says. (more...)
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Opponents drop challenge to Wal-Mart expansion
By Joe Mosley
The Register-Guard | August 6, 2004 |
Opponents of the proposed Wal-Mart grocery store in west Eugene are backing off.
Opponents said they won't file a legal challenge to last month's city approval of a grocery store addition at the West 11th Avenue discount center.
The deadline was Wednesday for appealing the city planning director's site review approval for a 69,306-square-foot expansion of the existing 148,645-square-foot Wal-Mart. (more...)
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Other News
Manager Lashes Out
Dennis Taylor fights against external auditor.
By Alan Pittman
Eugene Weekly | August 5, 2004 |
City Manager Dennis Taylor publicly lashed out at city councilors July 28 for even suggesting that the city might need an independent external auditor in the wake of police sex scandals. (more...)
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Editorial -- Don't undercut manager: Taylor, not council, should hire auditors
| The Register-Guard | August 5, 2004 |
Eugene's municipal government has a straightforward division of responsibilities: The City Council establishes policy, and the city manager carries it out. A newly resurrected proposal to hire a city auditor who would report to the council rather than the manager would blur that division. The idea has been rejected before; it should be rejected again. (more...)
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