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On April 1, we will become the Behavioral Health division within OHA as part of the agency’s reorganization plan to sunset the Health Systems Division and move its largest programs – Behavioral Health and Medicaid – into two distinct divisions. This change positions us to improve collaborations and be more responsive in our operations and support of providers and the communities we serve across Oregon.
As part of our restructure plan, we’ve created three deputy director positions to support specific workflow and strategy areas so we may be more nimble in our engagement and implementation of programming and services.
Beginning April 1, the deputy directors will oversee the following programs and work areas:
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Service Delivery Deputy Director Christa Jones: Child & Family, Adult Mental Health, Substance Use Disorder, and Crisis Response/988
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Operations and Strategy Deputy Director Jon Collins: Contracts, BH Investments Team (formerly known as Social Determinants of Health), Licensing & Certification-Mental Health, and Workforce
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Equity, Community Partnerships & Quality Assurance Deputy Director (vacant): Equity & Community Partnerships, Office of Recovery & Resilience, BH Metrics and BH Quality Assurance
We will be actively recruiting for the vacant deputy director role following the March 22 resignation of current Deputy Director Jackie Fabrick. We’re grateful for Jackie’s work in the areas of reducing providers’ administrative burden, expanding Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics statewide, negotiating county financial assistance agreements and guiding the development of our Measure 110 data strategy. Together, our team will continue to build upon the momentum created in these areas.
As we prepare to move forward as a division, we’re focused on ways we can continue to transform our behavioral health system and achieve OHA’s goal to end health inequities.
We recognize our work is tied to each community across Oregon and we recognize and appreciate your continued collaboration to help us deliver and support much needed services to people across the state.
Ebony S. Clarke, OHA Behavioral Health Services Director
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In this issue:
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The committee’s purpose is to advise OHA on
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Given the issues that many providers are experiencing due to the Optum Change Healthcare (CHC) cybersecurity event, OHA created a web page that includes a list of local and recommended resources for providers that serve Oregon Health Plan (OHP) members.
While the State of Oregon is not a part of this incident and does not have oversight authority of CHC regarding the cybersecurity incident, OHA created the resource page to help guide providers toward available support.
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Providers are now able to bill for fee-for-service (FFS) and coordinated care organization (CCO) behavioral health provider rates provided on or after Oct. 1, 2023, at the 3.4% rate increase. The increase is reflected in the March 2024 Behavioral Health Fee Schedule.
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The 21-member workgroup has moved to a meeting cadence of the first and third Wednesday of the month. The workgroup's next meeting is April 3.
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Proposed rulemaking notices: OHP Bridge input due April 21
Community input on the draft rules for the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) Bridge program is due April 21. The OHP Bridge program is a new category of OHP benefits that will cover more adults (ages 19-64) who have higher incomes. Submit comments to ohpbridge@oha.oregon.gov.
Access more information online about proposed rules and other ways to provide feedback.
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View all recent temporary rulemaking notices at:
Ongoing RAC updates: Rules Advisory Committee (RAC) updates and meeting information is now more easily available on the RAC webpage.
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The Drug Treatment and Recovery Act (Measure 110) Oversight and Accountability Council meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The council's next meeting is March 27.
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Subscribe to OHA Behavioral Health updates
Did someone forward or share this with you? You can subscribe here and also sign up to receive Holding Hope, the OHA Child and Family Behavioral Health newsletter, and other updates for Oregon behavioral health providers and partners.
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