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News Release
Independent Oregon Medical Providers Urge Support of Virtual Tools - 07/08/20

Summary 

Connecting virtually has become vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual health care appointments, also known as telehealth visits, have become a crucial tool for health care providers to provide ongoing care for patients with chronic medical conditions and timely diagnosis of new conditions. This tool will be critical throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. A coalition of eleven independent medical provider groups throughout Oregon are urging the Oregon Legislature to enact pay parity legislation to ensure insurance companies cover this important tool long term. 

Coalition Statement: 

A coalition of 1,300 independent medical providers throughout Oregon, including doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other health care professionals, is disappointed that legislation to mandate pay parity for telehealth medical visits did not moving forward in the recent special session of the Legislature.  We consider it an urgent need directly related to the COVID-19 crisis. These telehealth medical visits and pay parity have been fundamentally important to ensuring access to health care during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While we appreciate the Governor’s efforts to help address the situation, unfortunately, the Governor’s announcement to extend telehealth parity reimbursement rates through 2020 does not have the force of law.  We had hoped that in working with the Governor’s office and state legislators that we could have found a permanent solution to benefit all Oregonians. We appreciate the strong support we have from many members of the Legislature, which is consistent with their consideration of pay parity legislation during prior sessions of the Legislature.

Our independent providers serve more than 60 percent of all Oregon residents – rural and urban.  While we understand that the agreement set out by Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) can be seen as a bridge to future legislation, it falls short of providing long-term stability for Oregonians who have quickly become comfortable with receiving much-needed health care through virtual settings, and it does not adequately address care for new waves of COVID-19 that may erupt next year. Our coalition recognizes that the state of Washington has already enacted a permanent telehealth parity requirement that is proving successful and Oregon could follow that model.  We worry that short-term thinking could now endanger the long-term viability of independent medical providers, who have had to lay off hundreds of staff members and furlough many doctors.

We look forward to working with the Governor and the Legislature on a permanent fix via legislation. We will continue to work with many others critical to provision of good health care, including organizations like the Oregon Medical Association, the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon Rural Health Association, the Oregon Association of Family Practitioners, the Nurse Practitioners of Oregon, and many more.

 

 

Broadway Medical Clinic
East Cascade Women’s Group
North Bend Medical Center
NW Primary Care Group
ORM Fertility
Oregon Anesthesiology Group
Oregon Medical Group
The Corvallis Clinic
The Oregon Clinic
The Portland Clinic
Women's Healthcare Associates

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