Oregon Health Authority (OHA) released its 2024-2027 strategic plan – becoming the first state health agency in the nation to declare a goal to eliminate health inequities, and to outline a comprehensive plan for progress, by 2030.
Health inequities are the differences that exist in health outcomes for certain groups driven by unfair structural barriers in different groups. These differences are based on social, economic and other factors – such as systemic racism, bias, discrimination and oppression embedded into every aspect of society– that have a direct impact on health but are beyond one person’s control. They include gaps in health coverage, lack of access to providers, food and housing insecurity, income inequalities, student achievement gaps and other issues that contribute to higher rates of health problems in different communities.
Race and geography affect lifespan and overall well-being of people in Oregon. Data show that Black/African American, American Indian and Alaska Native people in Oregon have shorter life expectancies than White residents. People living in rural areas face barriers including higher rates of depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease yet have fewer options for care.
OHA’s strategic plan is focused on eliminating health inequities and creating a future where all people in Oregon have equal opportunity to thrive. To this end, OHA is pursuing progress across five key pillars that represent some the biggest challenges facing Oregonians and OHA:
- Transforming behavioral health by building the behavioral health workforce to serve all people, particularly those who experience health inequities; expanding access to community-based services, preventive services for youth and children, and medication to reverse overdose; and improving public transparency and accountability for funds received, among other strategies.
- Strengthening access to affordable care for all by connecting all people to affordable health coverage; improving network adequacy; and reducing the number of people delaying or going without care because it’s too expensive, inconvenient, or not available in the right language, among other strategies.
- Fostering healthy families and environments by ensuring that more pregnancies are safe and healthy; reducing hospital visits and deaths related to wildfire smoke; lowering rates of childhood lead poisoning; and closing immunization disparities, among other strategies.
- Achieving healthy Tribal communities by working with Oregon’s Nine Federally Recognized Tribes to improve the health of Tribal members.
- Building OHA’s internal capacity and commitment to eliminate health inequities by improving OHA’s responsiveness to the community and partners; authentically involving communities in policy and program decisions; and growing the diversity of OHA’s staff so our workforce more closely mirrors the communities we serve.
The plan was informed by years of community input, and staff engagement shaped OHA’s strategies and actions. To accomplish the plan’s goals, state health officials will convene community leaders and partner organizations from a wide range of communities in every part of the state.
“We can’t achieve this goal alone,” said Dr. Hathi. “This is why OHA will launch a statewide call to action – mobilizing our collective will and calling on our partners across state and local government, on health care payers and providers, on academia, philanthropy, and business – to step up and take bold action alongside us to eliminate health inequities. Most importantly, we need sustained engagement with the communities we serve across Oregon to drive solutions.”
State health officials will track and report on the agency’s progress through an online dashboard of metrics and an annual public report that describes the successes and challenges OHA faces working toward its 2030 goal.
Source: Oregon Health Authority