Oregon Health Authority Plan Targets Health Inequities
In August, the Oregon Health Authority unveiled its 2024–2027 strategic plan, with ambitious goals around transforming behavioral health and eliminating health inequities in the state.
In a letter introducing the plan, Sejal Hathi, M.D., M.B.A., director of the Oregon Health Authority, said OHA is committed to the following five goal pillars:
• Transforming behavioral health: Build a behavioral health system that
works for every child, teen, adult and family experiencing mental illness or
harmful substance use by expanding integrated, coordinated and culturally
responsive behavioral health services when and where people need them,
guided by people with lived experience.
• Strengthening access to affordable care for all: Ensure 100 percent of
people in Oregon have easy access to affordable health care, prioritizing
communities most harmed by health inequities.
• Fostering healthy families and environments: Foster healthy families
and environments that equitably promote health and well-being, especially
among communities most harmed by health inequities. Do this by
expanding access to: 1) preventive health services and supports, including
for new parents and families before and after birth; 2) safe and accessible
housing; 3) healthy food and nutrition; and 4) climate resilience.
• Achieving healthy Tribal communities: In honoring the relationships
with the nine Federally Recognized Tribes of Oregon, Urban Indian Health
Program and other health partners, OHA commits to support the ultimate
goal of achieving healthy Tribal communities. This empowers Tribal
individuals, families and communities across Oregon to achieve optimal
health and wellness through a fully funded continuum of health care rooted
in traditional and culturally specific practices.
• Building OHA’s internal capacity and commitment to eliminate
health inequities: Establish, maintain and resource the internal
infrastructure and accountability mechanisms necessary to acknowledge,
reconcile and redress racism and other forms of discrimination and
oppression that undermine the health, well-being and opportunities of
people across Oregon.
Hathi said the plan includes outcome measures OHA will use to hold itself accountable. “We chose these metrics because we believe that if we improve Oregon’s performance in these areas — while also reducing the disparities within them — we will see cascading positive effects on other health indicators across our communities. As a result, Oregon will move closer to our goal of eliminating health inequities by 2030.”
OHA will launch a public website to showcase the key measures used to track progress on the strategic plan.
The agency will track the prevalence of preventable disease, whether people at all income levels can access quality and affordable healthcare, and the degree to which communities experiencing systemic marginalization are able to access behavioral health services. It will review aggregated and disaggregated Race, Ethnicity, Language and Disability (REALD) and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data on health access and outcomes to analyze trends and inform our work. And we will monitor how specific factors such as racism, bias and oppression affect access to care.
