This morning 450 hospitalized Oregonians are waiting to be discharged, with nowhere to go, and 223 are being boarded in ERs waiting to be admitted, but with no beds available. Oregonians are dying and suffering avoidable harm from this situation, which is due both to an acute workforce shortage and to misaligned financial incentives in a payment model that is no longer financially sustainable. This crisis offers Oregon a unique opportunity to both resolve the workforce shortage and change the payment model to stabilize the system and reduce the total cost of care.
