Statewide news

OHP members report health care discrimination

Women who are covered under the Oregon Health Plan, are pregnant or uninsured are more likely to report discrimination by health care providers, according to a study by Oregon State University researchers.

About 20 percent of Oregon women say they've experienced discrimination during pregnancy, researchers say. Discrimination is also more likely reported by women who are homeless, behind in their bills, unmarried or younger than 19.

The researchers reached these conclusions after studying five years of data from 5,800 women as recorded in the Oregon pregnancy risk assessment system.

Sheryl Thorburn, OSU associate professor and an author of the study, says the data did not specify what constitutes "discrimination" in the perception of the study subjects. The study was reported in the October 2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Written hospital policies encourage breastfeeding

A study conducted by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) shows that if a hospital has a written policy that supports breastfeeding, women who deliver in that hospital are much more likely to breastfeed their newborns.

The study, conducted by Kenneth Rosenberg, MD, of DHS' Public Health Division, is based on a survey of all 57 Oregon hospitals that have birthing services.

According to Rosenberg, hospitals that have the written policy tend to have more staff members who encourage breastfeeding, and that leads to more women choosing to breastfeed.

The study examined linkage between the World Health Organization's 10 Steps of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and the extent to which mothers breastfeed their children. The 10 Steps include:

Having the mother and baby sleep in the same room.
Feeding the baby when she or he is hungry rather than on a fixed schedule.
Using breastfeeding exclusively with no supplementary feedings.

Many of the 10 Steps have been shown to increase breastfeeding.

For more information, see the DHS web site.

Smoking ban begins Jan. 1

Starting at midnight New Year’s Eve, Oregon’s Smokefree Workplace Law will go into effect, protecting nearly every Oregon employee from secondhand smoke.

The law covers bars, bingo halls, bowling centers, 75 percent of hotel and motel sleeping rooms and all employee breakrooms. Every Oregon business will be required to maintain a 10-foot smokefree zone around doors, windows and ventilation systems.

For more details, download the announcement from DHS.

Oregon: Second best in nation for preventing premature birth

Unfortunately, Oregon's “grade,” published in the March of Dimes’ Premature Birth Report Card, is no better than a “C.”

Only Vermont ranked higher than Oregon, with a “B” grade.


Illustration courtesy March of Dimes

The grades, which the March of Dimes plans to give annually, are based on a comparison with the national Healthy People 2010 objective. Overall, the national score is a “D” and 18 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia earned failing grades.

“It is unacceptable that our nation is failing so many preterm babies,” said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, March of Dimes president.

The report card was published November 12, the 6th Annual Prematurity Awareness Day. The March of Dimes focuses attention that day on premature birth (birth before 37 weeks gestation). More than 530,000 babies are born prematurely each year in the United States. Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death and a major cause of lifelong disability.

The Report Card also calls for federal and state governments, hospital leaders, businesses and individuals to take steps to help achieve the Healthy People 2010 objective to lower the rate to 7.6 percent of all live births. (The most recent data shows the national preterm birth rate is 12.7 percent.):

These steps include:

Federally funded research to find causes of preterm birth and recommend strategies for prevention.
Voluntary reviews by hospitals of all Cesarean births and inductions of labor before 39 weeks.
State and federal policymakers to improve access to health care for women of childbearing age, and to smoking cessation programs for pregnant women.
Business support for workplaces that promote maternal and infant health.

For more information, visit the March of Dimes’ web site, or download the Report Card.

In poor economy, health care employment stays strong

The economic downtourn, now officially classified as a recession, is impacting health care efforts in the Oregon Legislature and increasing financial grief for hospitals in the form of poor investment returns and more non-paying patients. Yet Oregon health care employment continues to be strong, with health care providers planning to increase or maintain staff levels.

A report in the Portland Tribune notes that during financial downturns over the last 30 years, jobs remain in Oregon health care. Citing Amy Vander Vliet, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department, the article notes that demand for health care continues to rise with the aging of the Baby Boomer generation.

Health systems announcing job increases or confirming that no layoffs are planned include Kaiser Permanente, Providence Health and Services, and Legacy Health System. With Oregon Health & Science University (which does NOT include health care providers among its recently announced layoffs), the health systems are four of the Portland metro area's six largest employers.

Read the entire article at the Portland Tribune.

For an analysis of the recession's impact in Oregon, see the University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators.