ASK OUR EXPERTS

OHSU experts are available to media representatives for interviews about and comments on the crisis of health care access in Oregon. To arrange an interview with OHSU experts listed below, or to identify someone else at OHSU who can comment on your story, please call a Communications Coordinator at 503 494-8231.

Health care crisis: Peter Kohler, M.D., president of OHSU, provides a broad historical perspective on the origins and challenges of the current health care access crisis, both as it relates to health care in Oregon generally and to OHSU specifically. He also has insight into the potential health care implications of the crisis if it remains unchecked along with ideas about possible solutions.

How rising health care costs may affect work force issues: Joe Robertson, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the OHSU School of Medicine, has broad insight into the implications of the rising cost of health insurance, and particular expertise on how this issue may affect the quality and quantity of the future health care work force.

Access to affordable health care: John Saultz, M.D., is professor and chairman of family medicine, OHSU School of Medicine, and director of Oregon's Statewide Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program. He has written extensively on issues affecting access to affordable health care and has expertise in developing programs to train physicians and other heath professionals for rural and urban underserved patient populations. Saultz was the founding medical director of CareOregon, a statewide Medicaid HMO, and is past president of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.

Health care costs and how they affect an institution: Brad King, C.P.A., M.B.A/M.P.A., is a vice president and chief financial officer of OHSU. With three decades of experience in health care management, King has detailed knowledge of health care costs and charges, along with knowledge about the different patient payer categories (private insurance, charity, bad debt or Medicare/Medicaid), and how their distribution affects health care costs generally. King served on the Catholic Health Association's national Social Accountability Committee, the Healthcare Financial Management Association's National Task Force on Uncompensated Care and its Oregon Chapter Committee on Community Benefits of Not-For-Profit Hospitals, and has testified before the Oregon House Ways & Means Committee on community benefits provided by not-for-profit hospitals.

Access impact of underinsurance or no insurance: Robert A. Lowe, M.D., M.P.H., director of the OHSU Center for Policy and Research in Emergency Medicine, has frontline knowledge of the access crisis via his work as an emergency physician. He is the principal investigator on multiple studies that show a link between the rising number of emergency visits from patients without health insurance and the loss of health insurance/Oregon Health Plan/Medicaid, as well as on the access impact of underinsurance. Lowe is an associate professor of emergency medicine, OHSU School of Medicine, and also is an associate professor of public health and preventive medicine and of medical informatics and clinical epidemiology.

Economics of health care and the economics of trauma centers: K. John McConnell, Ph.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine, OHSU School of Medicine, is a health economist whose research interests and expertise include the economics and financing of trauma centers, emergency department crowding, and the design and implementation of Medicaid insurance programs.

Barriers to health care for uninsured or low-income women: Michelle Berlin, M.D., M.P.H., director of the OHSU Center of Excellence in the OSHU Center for Women's Health and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and public health in the OHSU School of Medicine, and author of the national and state-by-state report card on women's health, "Making the Grade on Women's Health", can provide expertise and comments on barriers to health care for women.

Access to care for remote populations and rural physician training: Lisa Dodson, M.D., practiced for seven years in John Day, a frontier rural community. She served six years on the Board of Medical Examiners and completed the Health Policy certificate program at Lewis and Clark College. She is currently the clerkship director for the OHSU School of Medicine Rural Community Health Clerkship and principal designer of the Oregon Rural Scholars Program. Her academic interests include access to care for remote and underserved rural populations and rural physician training.

Native American health care disparities and access: Dale Walker, M.D., director of the Center for American Indian Health, Education and Research, and professor of psychiatry, public health and preventive medicine, OHSU School of Medicine. Walker is an expert on the health care access challenges faced by Native American and other special populations.

Health care disparities faced by minorities and other underserved populations: Nancy Glass, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., co-director of the OHSU Center for Health Disparities Research and assistant professor in the OHSU School of Nursing, has expertise concerning how factors such as poverty, race and gender have historically and currently influenced disparities in health care access, treatment and outcomes.

Somnath Saha, M.D., M.P.H: Somnath Saha, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine, division of general internal medicine and a joint appointment as associate professor of public health and preventive medicine, is a national expert on racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of health care and on access to care for vulnerable populations.

Health care access for rural communities: L.J. Fagnan, M.D., is director of the OHSU Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network and associate professor of family medicine, OHSU School of Medicine. Fagnan's expertise relates to health care access and systems change for rural communities in Oregon. Fagnan was named the 2005 Oregon Family Doctor of the Year by the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.

HIV: Todd Korthuis, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of medicine and also public health & preventive medicine is the HIV program director at OHSU. He is knowledgable about the challenges associated with improving access to care for underserved HIV patients. Through a local Ryan White grant and private donations, the HIV Clinic offers comprehensive HIV specialty care to people without insurance. Other services include on site substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, case management and patient self-management support groups.