OHSU-Legacy Health: Our Commitments
OHSU and Legacy Health plan to join as one health care system called OHSU Health. We see this as a once-in-a-generation chance to expand access to quality care in Oregon and beyond. Together, we can better achieve our missions and strengthen our financial health.
Uniting OHSU and Legacy Health combines all our expertise in one coordinated system. OHSU brings experience in specialty care, health care education and leading-edge research. Legacy brings deep roots in community care. The new system will give you access to all these strengths.
Uniting OHSU and Legacy Health combines all our expertise in one coordinated system. OHSU brings experience in specialty care, health care education and leading-edge research. Legacy brings deep roots in community care. The new system will give you access to all these strengths.
Our goals
We’re setting goals for our service to the people of Oregon. These goals arise from four commitments:
Improve access to quality behavioral health care
We want to help more people get:
- Mental health services
- Treatment for substance use disorder
- Suicide prevention and emergency psychiatric care
Improve behavioral health equity outcomes
Some people may be in situations that affect their access to behavioral health care. We want to provide different support and resources to help get the best results possible for all.
Disaggregate demographic information
Putting patient and community data in large groups can hide important health differences. We want to look at this data in smaller groups to get a more accurate picture of health needs.
Prioritize equity indicators and measures
We want to look at health results for different groups and communities to see where we can do more.
Improve the quality of culturally responsive services
We want to respect and support the cultural needs of patients and communities.
Increase number of people in clinical trials
Clinical trials are studies that test new treatments or ways to improve health. We want more patients who qualify to take part in these studies.
Improve access to acute adult inpatient beds
Adults may need to stay in the hospital (“inpatient”) for acute care. That’s care for illnesses, serious injuries or urgent medical conditions. It’s also care after surgery. We want more people who need this care to get it.
Decrease number of boarders and boarder hours in emergency departments and ICUs
Boarders are patients who have been admitted to the hospital and are waiting for a bed. They wait in the emergency department or intensive care units. We want fewer people to wait like this.
Reduce average wait times for transfer from community hospitals
Community hospitals may ask to send patients to us for advanced or specialty care. Sometimes we accept patients but have to put them on a wait list. We want them to have shorter waits.
Reduce wait times
We want patients to have shorter waits for surgeries, procedures and new patient appointments for primary and specialty care.
Improve recruitment and retention of primary care clinicians
We want to do a better job of hiring and keeping primary care doctors and staff.
Increase the number of assigned patients in primary care
We want more people to see the same primary care provider regularly.
Increase access to inpatient and outpatient virtual care
We want more people to be able to use virtual care inside and outside the hospital.
Improve access to reproductive health care
We want more people to have quality care for pregnancy and related needs.
Improve the quality of preventive care
We want more people to have screenings and other care for health and well-being.
Improve the quality of care for people with chronic diseases
We want people who live with medical conditions to get better care.
Reduce preventable hospital harm
We want patients to have fewer health problems from being in the hospital.
Improve community engagement and partnership
We want to work with communities to improve health and well-being.
Improve health outcomes for underserved people
We want to improve health and well-being for people who have little or no access to health care.
Sustainable average cost growth
We want to manage our health care spending in a way that keeps us financially stable.
Employees
We’re also making commitments to OHSU and Legacy employees. We’re proud that three unions representing more than 14,000 employees are calling these commitments “historic.”
State review
Oregon law requires a review of the OHSU-Legacy proposal by the state’s Health Care Market Oversight program.
This review includes a public comment period. See how to comment and read public comments. OHSU also is accepting comments. Email us at [email protected].