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An AMR ambulance at Legacy Health Good Samaritan Medical Center in Northwest Portland, Ore., on July 30, 2023. | JAKE THOMAS/THE LUND REPORT

AMR pressures Multnomah County over ambulance staffing rules

American Medical Response sent a letter warning of a potential emergency system collapse

Feb 15, 2024

Christopher Marks spent months trying to get his health insurer to pay for the Type 2 diabetes medication Mounjaro. | CHRISTOPHER SMITH FOR KFF HEALTH NEWS

States target health insurers’ ‘prior authorization’ red tape

Last year, 29 states and Washington, D.C., considered bills to limit “prior authorization” requirements for medical care and prescriptions, according to the American Medical Association. This year, the trade group is tracking more.

Feb 15, 2024

The Capitol Building in Salem. | JAKE THOMAS/THE LUND REPORT

Lawmakers want to scrap state approval needed for many new health care facilities

New psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care facilities must prove their services are needed, but critics and supporters disagree on the certification system’s effects

Feb 15, 2024
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In its early years, GoFundMe funded honeymoon trips, graduation gifts, and church missions to overseas hospitals in need. Now it has become a go-to platform for patients trying to escape medical billing nightmares. | ERIC HARKLEROAD/KFF HEALTH NEWS

GoFundMe has become a health care utility

GoFundMe has become a go-to platform for patients trying to escape medical billing nightmares

Feb 15, 2024

Many counterfeit pills containing fentanyl are indistinguishable from oxycodone. | U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

Oregon Education Department seeks funding for fentanyl, opioid prevention

The agency says the money would allow it to better oversee a new law approved in 2023, but prevention experts say the department should rethink its approach

Feb 15, 2024
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CareOregon. | COURTESY OF CAREOREGON

CareOregon merger proposal scrapped amid opposition, concerns

Proposed merger sparked criticism from former Gov. John Kitzhaber, concerns from state merger oversight office

Feb 13, 2024
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PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield. | CHRISTIAN WIHTOL/THE LUND REPORT

Eugene lawmaker hopes to cut ambulance delays in wake of hospital closure

Patients are waiting longer to get care in the wake of University District hospital’s closure in Eugene, and Rep. Nancy Nathanson wants to fund an ambulance to change that

Feb 13, 2024
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Sterling Hanakahi, 73, and Anita Hanakahi, 70, of Tillamook say they were blindsided when Texas-based U.S. Renal Care executives announced they would close their kidney dialysis center in the coastal community Feb. 23. Anita has relied on the center for the past nine years. For her and 10 other local patients, she said, local dialysis treatment is a matter of life and death. | COURTESY OF ANITA HANAKAHI