LEBANON Although the concept of Coordinated Care Organizations in Oregon remains in its infancy, results are already promising, a panel of health care experts told COMP-Northwest students and staff Thursday.

Panel members were Sean Kolmer, Gov. Kitzhabers health care policy adviser; State Rep. Tim Freeman, R-Roseburg; State Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford; and Jeff Heatherington, CEO of Family Care Inc., a CCO serving the Multnomah County area.

The program was moderated by Ginger Cupit, 2017 class president.

Bates joined the forum via Skype from his office in southern Oregon.

The shift to CCOs came about after the 2010 election, when for the first time in Oregon history, the House of Representatives was split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

We figured out quickly that we had to work together, Freeman said. It turned out well for Oregon.

Instead of a top-down flow of money and management from the state level, Coordinated Care Organizations allow local health care experts to determine how state moneys will be used to more effectively serve the needs of their local patients.

Heatherington said 17 percent of the USAs gross domestic product is spent on health care, compared to 11 percent in other industrialized nations.

The six percent difference is what isnt being spent to improve our infrastructure or education, he said. Health care costs are sucking money out of other basic services. If we don't have reform, we will be fighting battles to fund everything from preschools to higher education.

Freeman said other states funnel money into health care in a silo-like fashion, with each branch of health care battling for its share of funding.

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Experts offer health care insight to COMP-Northwest students