Contracting changes
Portland’s Children’s Health Alliance changes health plans

As of June 30, the Children’s Health Alliance (CHA) has ended its contract with CareOregon. This contracting change affects the small percentage of CareOregon members who have been getting care from CHA physicians.

“We want to keep our provider partners informed,” said Pamela Mariea-Nason, CareOregon Health Policy and Community Engagement Director. “Although we are disappointed to no longer be working with the physicians in the CHA contracting group, we have a large, robust and effective network of outstanding clinical providers who care for our other 120,000-plus members. This allows us to offer excellent alternatives to the members who choose to remain with CareOregon. We value all of our primary care providers equally, and believe our reimbursement policies should reflect that.”

The Division of Medical Assistance Programs (DMAP) will be sending a letter to the CareOregon members affected by this change, giving them the choice of (1) staying with CareOregon; (2) changing to a different health plan that contracts with CHA; or (3) in the case of Yamhill County, going on “open card.” CareOregon is working with CHA providers and DMAP to make this transition as smooth as possible.

The change may also affect the families of members who have been getting care from CHA physicians, Mariea-Nason said. DMAP intends to keep families together in the same health plan. If the family decides to change health plans so their child can continue to see their CHA physician, other family members may to have to change their health care provider if their current provider is not with the new health plan.

Changing from CareOregon could mean a change in specialists, mental health providers and formulary options, because they may not be available through another plan.

“This change does not affect any other CareOregon members,” Mariea-Nason said. “CareOregon’s provider network will continue to offer outstanding service to our members.”

If you have any questions about this or any other issues, please contact your network relations representative or James Schroeder, Director of Healthcare Services, at 503-416-5764. You may also e-mail James at schroederj@careoregon.org.