OHA announces awards for 2020-2024 coordinated care contracts

July 9, 2019

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced its intent to award 15 organizations contracts to serve as coordinated care organizations (CCOs) for the Oregon Health Plan’s nearly 1 million members. Eleven of the organizations are approved to receive five-year contracts, and four organizations are approved to receive one-year contracts. Awardees will now be evaluated for their readiness to deliver the services promised in their applications. Successful awardees will sign their contracts, totaling more than $6 billion for the 2020 contract year, in the fall. The new CCO contract services start January 1, 2020.

“We look forward to working together with CCOs and communities to build on the gains of the first six years of health transformation and address gaps and challenges that persist in the state’s health care system,” said OHA Director Patrick Allen. “We set a high bar to ensure these CCOs will be ready to advance the goals of reducing costs, improving access to mental health services, rewarding providers for improving health outcomes, and addressing issues outside the doctor’s office that impact health.”

This next phase of health care transformation is known as “CCO 2.0.”

In October 2018, at the request of Governor Brown, the Oregon Health Policy Board approved a comprehensive set of policies to improve the health of Oregon Health Plan members, address health disparities, control program costs, and continue to transform health care delivery in our state. These priorities were affirmed during an extensive public engagement process that involved more than 2,500 Oregonians who participated in public meetings held across the state as well as phone and online surveys.

Organizations receiving one-year contracts will be placed on remediation plans and have up to one year to show they can meet the higher expectations of CCO 2.0, with technical support from OHA. OHA will extend those contracts beyond one year for CCOs that show they can meet the goals of CCO 2.0. Nearly 87 percent of Oregon’s 1 million OHP members are enrolled in CCOs. Based on the awards, Oregon Health Plan members in every county in Oregon will have at least one CCO to coordinate their health care. Members in all or part of Clackamas, Jackson (partial), Lane, Multnomah, Polk (partial) and Washington counties will have changes to their CCO choices. Willamette Valley Community Health (WVCH), which serves OHP members in Marion and Polk counties and parts of Benton, Clackamas, Linn, and Yamhill counties, did not seek a new contract. WVCH’s contract will end December 31, 2019, and members will transfer to a new CCO.

The applicant evaluation reports are available on OHA’s website. Applications were evaluated in the following areas:

• Care coordination and integration: Ability to coordinate with outside entities (including public and community-based organizations), between levels of care, for special populations of members and to integrate behavioral and oral health services.
• Delivery system transformation: Innovating to improve care delivery and quality (including primary care), access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care, measurement of value and efficiency of services.
• Community engagement: Strength of the Community Engagement Plan and of community engagement in developing the application.
• Clinical and service delivery: Utilization monitoring, ensuring appropriate access to services, clinical review and prior authorization, and approach to addressing complaints and grievances.
• Business administration: CCO business processes, member engagement and outreach, adoption of electronic health records, data systems, and supporting members during transition.
• Finance: Applicant solvency, ownership and affiliations, National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) reporting, arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers, plans for increasing value-based payments, tracking and reporting of social determinants of health investments and outcomes, managing within the global budget, and cost containment.

CCO 2.0 Contract Awardees

PrimaryHealth was the only current CCO whose application was denied, due to concerns reported in the organization’s financial review. Three new applicants were also denied contracts.

About coordinated care organizations: Oregon first established CCOs in 2012 to transform health care delivery in the state. CCOs bring together physical, behavioral, and oral health providers to coordinate care for people on the Oregon Health Plan. They improve health and reduce costs by providing more coordinated, flexible and innovative services. CCOs are rewarded for achieving specific health outcomes and quality measures.

Additional resources: The CCO 2.0 Contract Selection page on the OHA website has more details about the CCO awardees, including:

• Evaluation reports.
• Summary of award decisions.
• Map of new service areas.
• Updated draft CCO contract terms.

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