People on the Oregon Health Plan are making fewer visits to the emergency room and more visits to primary care clinics, according to a new report on Oregon's year-old coordinated care organizations. The Oregon Health Authority says the report shows Gov. John Kitzhaber's overhaul of the state Medicaid program is achieving its goals in reducing unnecessary use of the emergency room. But the figures don't allow for a definitive conclusion about whether the coordinated care organizations are responsible for the shifts. The report looked only at Medicaid patients, so it's unclear if the results were substantially better than other segments of the health care market.
