Oregon’s on-ramp to our country’s “next generation health care delivery system”

Oregon Health Network (OHN) aims high. We believe that every Oregon patient deserves access to the best possible health care regardless of where they live.  From inception, our vision and purpose has been to deploy a health care network foundation and services offering that would help Oregon’s medical community transition from the silo’d systems of the present and toward a nationally integrated, coordinated and truly “patient-centered” system of the future.

Ahead of the curve, we knew the climb would be steep. Networks designed to serve the entire health care continuum on both the regional and statewide levels have never been implemented before in the United States. In order to design and deploy an effective working network model that was able to serve every Oregonian regardless of location, we knew that a scalable model with a phased growth approach would be required. By meeting each phased milestone, and with the core network infrastructure and participant community in place, OHN will have created the foundation and momentum required to affect national adoption and use of this next generation of integrated care at a systemic level.

OHN is not only fast becoming a working model and sustainable reality, but our network has helped to position Oregon as one of the health IT innovators in the country. Why? Because of the insight, courage and financial support of our ever extending health care/education participant community, as well as the integral role and support of our state agencies and industry partners required to help us do so.

OHN’s driving force

Imagine a nationwide health care system connecting rural and urban hospitals and clinics to any health care provider specialist or service they want to across the country. With a reliable, scalable and robust broadband infrastructure, any location in the state can use the network as a “health care highway.”

Imagine a point in time where the terms “urban” and “rural” are obsolete—meaning that they no longer represent assumptions as to whether or not a specific community has access to quality health care, education and workforce development opportunities.

Imagine a robust and trusted national health care “highway” that is already deployed and poised to support the new and developing coordinated care (ACO & CCOs) models. A highway that is scalable, affordable and secure with high speed and reliable connectivity options. Options that no longer represent a major financial and technical hurdle for providers of any size to overcome alone.

A network like this would also allow rural residents in a picturesque corner of Oregon to text or email a medical concern or condition to a local health care provider who can use video conferencing technology to consult with an urban health care specialist.  Through a secure video conferencing solution, the specialist could be virtually ”transported” to the rural exam room, gaining the ability to consult with the local practitioner and patient in a real-time clinical exam to determine if specialized care is needed. Under this scenario, gone are the days of stressful and costly 50- to 200-mile road trips for patients and their families in search of quality care. And here are the days where every Oregonian (or patient) has access to the best possible care, regardless of where they live. This is the vision, purpose and driving force behind OHN; and a vision that’s already being experienced in incremental forms across the state as our network expands. Contact us to learn how you can connect – and what we can do to help.

We didn’t do this alone

Pioneers travel together. We couldn’t have come this far without the support of the countless hours of expertise and advocacy of OHN’s volunteer board and community, as well as financial and broad support received from: the Federal Communications Commission through their Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP), Governor’s Office, Oregon Business Development Department, Oregon Department of Education, Department of Community Colleges & Workforce Development, Department of Human Services, Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems, Telehealth Alliance of Oregon – and a whole host of additional strategic community partners like these.

OHN is Oregon’s health care highway thanks to the innovation, courage and pioneer spirit of the people, organizations and agencies like these who are proud to call Oregon home.