1 – Shortage of Medical Interpreters – July 10th 2014 The Affordable Care Act calls for the use of certified medical interpreters — for patients who aren’t fluent in English. Inaccurate translations have caused serious medical problems in the past — even death. Oregon started requiring the use of certified medical interpreters 13 years ago, but my story showed that patients in Oregon still only have a 3 percent chance of getting one. There aren’t enough interpreters being trained because they’re not paid well; the lifestyle of driving from one hospital to another isn’t appealing; and the contractual structure of the position makes it unappealing. 2 – The Good Behavior Game – Coordinated Care Organizations around Oregon are experimenting with some interesting ideas to reduce smoking, obesity and other health problems. This example tells how the local CCO is paying for a school district to play ‘The Good Behavior Game.’ The idea is that teaching kindergarteners how to behave in class will result in healthier students decades later. A study by the ‘Coalition for Evidence Based Policy’ found that by age 13, the game reduced the number of kids who started to smoke by 26 percent, and reduced the number of kids who started to take hard drugs by more than half. 3 – Healing Hurt People – A hospital in Portland is having success getting kids out of gangs by reaching out to them at ‘the golden moment.’ That moment is just after they have been shot. The program works by sending a counselor to the person’s bedside to talk about ways of getting out of the gang lifestyle at precisely the moment the gang member might be considering a change. 4 – Drug Discount Policy Changes – Federal law requires drug companies give deep discounts to hospitals that deal with a lot of uninsured patients. It’s called the 340-B program. But the program has grown exponentially and drug manufacturers now say hospitals are selling many of those drugs at higher prices to make money. Hospitals say they need the money to pay for the clinics and doctors who hand out that cheaper medicine. The US Health Resources and Services Administration is looking into the issue.
