Our Health Plan: Community Governed Healthcare That Works

Just when you thought there was no cure for an ailing healthcare system, Our Health Plan will change your mind entirely. Chronicling the journey of a single community through the labyrinth of local healthcare in its efforts to effect change, proponents focus on the most economically disadvantaged and vulnerable-the Medicaid population, as well as reaching out to the commercially insured, creating a revolutionary Coordinated Care Organization, or CCO, in the process. Harnessing the power of its doctors, hospitals, dentists, psychologists, addiction counselors, paramedics, educators, and other integral healthcare forces, the medical community learns to work as a cohesive unit. Results include vastly improved care, reduced costs, favorable relationships and communication among providers, and patients with a decisive voice in a totally reimagined healthcare system.

Dr. Jim Rickards is a healthcare transformer who happens to be a radiologist. Currently, he is the Chief Medical Officer for the Oregon Health Authority which serves approximately 1.1 million individuals with Medicaid benefits. In this capacity, he oversees Oregon’s health evidence review commission, pharmacy and therapeutics committee, Transformation Center and clinical leadership. Prior to joining the Oregon Health Authority, he helped form the Yamhill Community Care Organization, a community-governed health care plan serving individuals with Medicaid benefits. He served as this organization’s Health Strategy Officer working to align the mission and vision of the organization with the resources and energy of the community. In addition to an MD degree from Indiana University, he holds a Healthcare Focused MBA from Oregon Health Science University/Portland State University. He completed residency and fellowship training in radiology in Chicago at Cook County Hospital and Rush University Hospital respectively. Just as he sees opportunities to improve individual-level health in the shadows of the x-rays and CAT scans he interprets, he sees an opportunity to improve population health in the data and policy options available both on a community and national level.