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St. Charles Health System in Bend. | COURTESY OF ST. CHARLES HEALTH SYSTEM

St. Charles cuts ties with 3 Medicare Advantage plans as enrollment looms

Starting in 2024, the Central Oregon health system will no longer be considered in-network for Humana, HealthNet and WellCare — affecting about 6,000 seniors

Oct 10, 2023
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Protesters gather in opposition to the closure of the neonatal intensive care unit at Holston Valley Medical Center, a Ballad Health hospital, in 2019. | DANI COOK/KFF HEALTH NEWS

These Appalachia hospitals made big promises to gain a monopoly. They’re failing to deliver.

Ballad Health has not met many of the quality benchmarks nor provided much of the charity after becoming the only option for hospital care for most of about 1.1 million residents in the 29-county region

Oct 10, 2023

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Senator calls for DOJ action against Philips for keeping CPAP machine complaints secret

The request comes after revelations the global company withheld thousands of warnings about popular breathing machines capable of spewing hazardous particles and fumes into the masks of patients

Oct 10, 2023

IULIIA BONDARENKO/PIXABAY

Paid family leave: $15 million in benefits the first month

Paid Leave Oregon sped up its claim processing time in recent weeks, with a 162% increase since the program started

Oct 10, 2023
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MYLÉNE/PIXABAY

Congenital syphilis rates are soaring, but resources to stem infections are lacking

The condition disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous babies

Oct 10, 2023

File: Necia Cage Pankey, a frontline worker at Kaiser Permanente’s Sunnyside Medical Center, chants with the crowd at a press conference held at the Oregon AFL-CIO offices in Portland, Sept. 14, 2023. SEIU members who work at Kaiser ended their strike at 6 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, though members of another union remained on strike. | KRISTYNA WENTZ-GRAFF/OPB

Some Kaiser Permanente workers return, while pharmacy strike continues

Members of the Service Employees International Union returned to work at 6 a.m. Saturday. The strike that has shuttered several Kaiser Permanente pharmacies in Oregon continues.

Oct 10, 2023

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State wants input on CareOregon merger

California-based SCAN Group would absorb the nonprofit that oversees health care for 500,000 low-income Oregonians, but many details have not been disclosed to the public

Oct 10, 2023
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Audit faults the state’s ‘poor’ monitoring of Oregon Health Plan contractor

The audit found vulnerable patients received improper care after the agency didn’t check the work of Comagine Health

Oct 9, 2023
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Three people sit at a table with microphones.

Sarah Holland, a director at Portland-based Central City Concern, (right) speaks about housing and health care with Oregon Medicaid director Dana Hittle (middle) and Marin Arreola, a member of the Governor’s Racial Justice Council. The group spoke about Oregon’s Medicaid expansion at CCO Oregon’s annual conference about health care in Salem. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE