Oregon wants to sue Oracle over failed insurance exchange

Modern Healthcare

  • Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber wants to sue Oracle Corp. over the state's failed health insurance exchange, Cover Oregon. But Oracle is saying it's not responsible for the exchange's problems. “Contrary to the story the state is promoting, Oracle has never led the Oregon health exchange project. (Oregon Health Authority) and Cover Oregon were in charge and badly mismanaged the project by consistently failing to deliver requirements in a timely manner and failing to staff the project with skilled personnel,” Oracle said in a statement. Kitzhaber sent a letter May 29 to Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum urging a lawsuit against Oracle for its role in the insurance exchange. Oregon paid Oracle $134 million for its contribution to the website, which was crippled by technical glitches.

  • The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, facing the coming exhaustion of its funding, late last Friday announced the agency’s “next functional realignment.” Agency head Dr. Karen DeSalvo said in an internal memo that a new, “flatter and more accountable reporting structure” is necessary to confront the agency’s new challenges, which include dealing with interoperability, care transformation, use of health data by consumers, and quality and safety of care.

  • A collaboration between two noncompeting not-for-profit health plans in New York state could serve as a model for similar companies seeking to survive in increasingly competitive medium-sized markets, those familiar with the deal said. With their headquarters about 300 miles apart on either end of the New York State Thruway, Albany-based Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan, also known as CDPHP, and Buffalo-based Independent Health don’t compete. But they offer similar products to similar customers and are facing similar economic pressures. So, they have opted to pool resources and share thinking on how to manage new business realities.
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