Fiscal management and health care innovation are recognized
Oregon Health Forum honors CareOregon CEO
President and CEO David Ford has played a pivotal role in CareOregon’s emergence as a leader in innovative health care delivery in Oregon. For that reason, he is among the health care leaders to be honored by the Oregon Health Forum December 5. The nonprofit health policy organization will present a Visionary Leadership Award to Ford.
Also to be recognized at the 2007 Leadership Awards Dinner are Peter Kohler, MD, president emeritus of Oregon Health & Science University, and Tina Castañares, MD, family physician at La Clínica del Cariña and medical director for Hospice of The Gorge.
Ford was nominated for the honor by Emily Katz, CareOregon Public Policy Manager.
“There are few health care dialogues that happen in the state in which CareOregon is not a part,” Katz says. “This is due to the leadership and determination of Dave Ford to create a world-class health care system for Oregon’s most vulnerable people.”
CareOregon is a nonprofit provider of managed care services for Medicaid recipients. Its 96,000 members comprise about one-quarter of the Oregon Health Plan’s membership.
Ford took the reins of CareOregon in 2003 and turned around its troubled financial position. Under his direction, CareOregon has become a central player in efforts to improve health care delivery in the state.
A key part of CareOregon’s commitment is its program of chronic and complex care management, launched under Ford’s leadership. CareSupport teams focus extra help on members with conditions that typically are difficult and costly to maintain, such as Congestive Heart Failure, two or more chronic illnesses, or mental health and substance abuse issues. The teams include a nurse, behavioral health specialist, a pharmacist as needed, and a Health Care Guide, who helps members gain access to the community resources, such as providers of shelter, clothing, and food, they need in order to maintain a program of treatment.
Ford also has extended CareOregon’s health care system improvement efforts to its network of providers through the Care Support and System Innovation (CSSI) program and the Primary Care Renewal initiative. The common goal is care that puts the patient first and is safe, appropriate, effective, efficient, and timely.
The CSSI program helps CareOregon provider organizations improve health care delivery through evidence-based practice and continuous improvement. Since 2005, CareOregon has provided funds to nearly 50 clinics and hospitals to enhance care for both CareOregon members and non-members. (See related story.)
The Primary Care Renewal project is piloting primary-care delivery innovation in six clinics: Central City Concern Old Town Clinic, Legacy Health System Emanuel Clinic, Multnomah County Health Department Mid‑County Health Center, Multnomah County’s HIV Community Test Site, Oregon Health & Science University’s Richmond Clinic and Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Cornelius Clinic. (See related story.)
About David Ford
David Ford has been a health insurance leader for more than 20 years. Before joining CareOregon in 2003, he worked as an executive with Aetna, NYLCare, and Blue Cross of Washington and Alaska. Most recently, he completed a turnaround for an HMO in Washington DC and Baltimore. He has also worked with a venture capital firm in Palo Alto, Calif. He is married to photographer/writer Phi Ford and has three grown children. He attended the University of California, Davis.
About Oregon Health Forum
Oregon Health Forum is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 and dedicated to creating a dialogue for health policy change. It has been honoring outstanding Oregon leaders in health care and health policy for 11 years.
For information on the Oregon Health Forum leadership awards, visit http://www.healthforum.org/events/leadershipdinner.html
