WEATHER
East Oregonian
Page 2A
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
SUNDAY
TODAY
MONDAY
Partly sunny and
warmer
Cooler with a
couple of showers
61° 40°
54° 33°
TUESDAY
Clouds and
showers around
Partly sunny
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
50° 31°
55° 30°
55° 32°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
58° 34°
63° 43°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
52°
57°
78° (1960)
40°
37°
12° (1913)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.02"
1.46"
1.13"
3.83"
2.50"
3.68"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
LOW
55°
60°
77° (1960)
0.00"
1.21"
0.74"
2.70"
1.45"
3.01"
SUN AND MOON
Apr 7
Bend
55/34
6:46 a.m.
7:16 p.m.
10:35 p.m.
8:28 a.m.
First
Full
Apr 13
Apr 21
Caldwell
57/38
Burns
52/35
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
55
51
55
55
52
51
55
58
63
56
57
54
51
60
54
57
56
63
61
59
57
57
52
53
56
60
63
Lo
42
31
34
45
35
30
43
38
43
43
37
37
36
45
44
46
37
40
40
45
34
44
36
35
44
42
39
W
c
s
pc
r
pc
s
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
s
c
sh
c
s
pc
pc
c
pc
c
pc
pc
c
s
pc
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sun.
Hi
52
49
45
52
49
45
53
51
58
50
48
49
45
55
51
54
56
60
54
53
47
54
49
46
51
55
59
Lo
40
25
23
40
27
27
37
30
34
32
26
30
29
37
41
41
33
33
33
41
25
38
30
28
39
36
32
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
sh
sh
sn
c
c
c
sh
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
sh
sh
c
pc
sh
sh
r
sh
sh
sh
sh
sh
c
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
67
68
64
57
78
36
58
63
53
77
52
Lo
36
59
50
44
52
20
45
43
33
67
46
W
s
pc
t
r
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
Sun.
Hi
71
69
59
52
77
36
54
62
55
78
53
Lo
33
59
43
44
56
20
46
51
34
66
46
W
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
t
pc
s
sh
pc
WINDS
Medford
60/45
PRECIPITATION
Mar 31
John Day
56/43
Ontario
56/37
43°
36°
15° (1996)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
New
Albany
54/44
Eugene
55/43
TEMPERATURE
Yesterday
Normals
Records
62° 30°
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/36
61/39
Tacoma
Moses
60/41
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 60/38
51/36
53/44
58/42
63/39
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
58/44
60/42 Lewiston
64/43
Astoria
57/39
55/42
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
59/45
Pendleton 51/30
The Dalles 63/43
61/40
63/43
La Grande
Salem
54/37
57/44
Corvallis
55/44
HIGH
62° 34°
Seattle
59/45
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
56° 34°
Today
WEDNESDAY
Mostly cloudy
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Klamath Falls
57/37
(in mph)
Today
Sunday
Boardman
Pendleton
VAR 3-6
S 4-8
WSW 10-20
WSW 10-20
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Cloudy today; a shower;
however, rain and drizzle in the south.
Eastern Washington: Sun and some clouds
today.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Warmer today
with clouds and sun; however, sunnier in the
upper Treasure Valley.
Western Washington: Increasing cloudiness
in central parts today; a shower in spots
elsewhere.
Cascades: A shower or two today; a
morning shower, then rain and drizzle in
the south.
Northern California: Times of clouds
and sun at the coast today; mostly sunny
elsewhere.
0
2
4
4
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016
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one-year rate ZitK a montKly Fredit or deEit FardFKeFN FKarJe
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
110s
high
warm front stationary front
low
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 90° in Thermal, Calif.
Low -4° in Antigo, Wis.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Hi
66
76
54
61
52
77
54
46
76
70
56
51
77
37
50
79
38
41
81
78
60
77
54
71
72
78
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Lo
31
60
42
41
30
57
41
35
62
46
43
38
52
20
34
49
25
24
69
59
43
63
34
51
49
56
Sun.
W
pc
s
s
s
pc
s
s
pc
t
s
pc
s
s
sn
s
s
c
pc
sh
pc
s
t
r
s
s
pc
Hi
66
71
54
62
59
74
54
47
74
77
53
68
65
50
64
75
40
53
81
78
65
78
55
78
67
74
Lo
40
57
44
49
35
51
33
38
62
47
36
41
41
29
40
49
19
30
69
51
41
64
32
59
40
56
Today
W
s
t
pc
pc
s
c
c
pc
r
pc
sh
c
c
s
r
s
c
s
sh
t
r
t
r
s
t
pc
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
68
72
86
48
48
74
76
54
71
47
61
86
46
52
61
42
63
74
66
48
72
67
59
84
63
58
Lo
47
53
76
40
35
48
67
40
39
29
43
59
31
33
51
19
40
51
44
34
58
56
45
52
46
35
Sun.
W
s
s
t
pc
r
s
c
s
pc
r
s
s
s
pc
sh
pc
s
s
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
s
s
pc
Hi
71
71
85
50
48
77
76
54
61
55
61
86
46
52
67
57
67
71
52
61
68
64
52
85
65
61
Lo
45
44
76
35
33
44
61
44
35
35
47
61
35
39
58
25
37
46
37
42
60
50
40
55
51
33
W
c
t
t
c
pc
t
r
pc
sh
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
c
s
pc
pc
r
c
pc
pc
sh
s
pc
r
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
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30s
OHA contract ‘error’ pushes program $29M over budget
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
Health Authority negotiated
a faulty methodology to
calculate payments to foster
homes caring for adults with
mental illnesses inÀ ating
costs $29 million over
budget and jeopardizing the
program.
Managers
at
OHA
discovered the problem
almost immediately after
the inÀ ated payments began
in January 2014, but it took
two years for the state to
rein in costs because the rate
methodology was written
into a contract with the union
representing foster home
operators. Reduced rates took
effect in January, amid outcry
from providers who said the
reduction in pay would force
some of them to close.
Rather than paying rates
based on the actual level
of care needed, OHA paid
rates on each client equal to
the rates paid for patients in
secure residential treatment
facilities , which house people
who require a higher level
of services including some
of the more serious cases of
people found guilty except
for insanity by the courts.
As a result, the state paid
the average home twice as
much as before for the same
level of services.
It’s unclear how the rate
structure was negotiated, and
why its impact caught the
state by surprise.
Lynne Saxton, director of
the Oregon Health Authority,
attributed the payment
increase to a “calculation
error.” She told lawmakers
Kitzhaber loses
email block bid
PORTLAND (AP) — The
Oregon Supreme Court has
denied former Gov. John
Kitzhaber’s latest effort to
stop an outside review of
emails that were inadvertently
archived by the state.
Kitzhaber attorney Janet
Hoffman wanted the high
court to overturn a lower court
ruling that an independent
special master peruse the
messages and decide which
are relevant to the ongoing
litigation between the state and
Oracle over the failed Cover
Oregon health care exchange.
Adult foster home provider rates
Oregon’s foster home program for adults with mental illnesses
went over budget by $29 million, due to payment increases that
Oregon Health Authority director Lynne Saxton described as a
“calculation error.” A new rate methodology written into a union
contract doubled the average payments to homes in 2014. The
state scaled back payments this year.
Average annual
payment per
provider, in dollars
268,589
*Projected
$144,427 145,340
2011
2012
278,229
UP
92.6%
from
2011
Source: Oregon
Health Authority
Hillary Borrud and
Alan Kenaga/
EO Media Group
154,214 154,214
135,224
2013
2014
last month that “without
the right-sizing of rates, the
program can be in jeopardy
as it’s unsustainable ¿ nan-
cially.”
Emails released by the
Oregon Health Authority
appear to support Saxton’s
description of the 2014 rate
hike as an error. A week
after the new methodology
took effect in January 2014,
mid-level managers at the
agency were already alarmed
that adult foster home costs
were beginning to skyrocket.
“We need to address this!”
Trevor Douglass, a Medicaid
manager, wrote in a Jan.
10, 2014 email to another
Medicaid manager, Don
Ross. “You will see a trend
of substantial increases,”
Douglass wrote, referring to
an attached document with
2015
2016*
2017*
a sample of data on foster
homes that were on track
to receive larger payments.
“That can’t avoid a budget
impact. My hair is smol-
dering, not on ¿ re.”
Ross responded within
minutes.
“These are outrageous,”
Ross wrote, referring to the
foster homes’ rate increase
requests. “How did we end up
on a provider-driven meth-
odology, with no ceiling, for
January 2014?” Ross said
the Oregon Health Authority
should hit the brakes until
the agency better understood
what was happening. “The
exposure built into this is
kind of unprecedented during
my time here,” Ross wrote.
The state ultimately
paid the higher rates while
negotiating a new payment
structure with the Service
Employees
International
Union, which represents
operators. A union represen-
tative did not respond to a
request for comment.
The foster homes, which
can each house up to ¿ ve
residents, had gone from
receiving an average of
$135,000 from the state in
2013 before the rate change,
to nearly $269,000 in 2014 .
The state estimated that
with 2016 revisions, adult
foster homes will receive on
average $154,000 this year.
The payment reductions
prompted
foster
home
operators to criticize SEIU
for agreeing to the new rate
methodology. Foster home
operators told lawmakers last
month that the state should
¿ nd the money to pay them
the higher rates that were in
place for the last two years.
April Gunter, an adult
foster care provider in
Washington County, was one
of several industry members
who warned lawmakers that
homes would shut down
unless the state returns to the
higher rates.
“You know that these
people will be out on the
streets,” Gunter said, refer-
ring to adult foster home
residents. “The bottom line is
we have to ¿ nd a resolution
for it, resolution meaning you
guys have to ¿ nd the money
somewhere to fund us ... ”
Foster home operators
told lawmakers that it takes a
lot of work to care for their
residents, and in at least one
case the additional money
in 2014 and 2015 allowed a
provider to expand services
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Although
the
new
payment structure remains
in place, the state is now
bargaining with SEIU over
an existing “exceptional
needs rate,” which could
allow some foster homes to
receive more money from the
state if the rate increases or it
becomes easier for residents
to qualify.
The rate, which was
already in the current and
previous contracts, applies
in temporary situations when
residents require a higher
level of care, such as when a
resident who lives at a foster
home due to severe persistent
mental illness breaks his
or her leg and temporarily
requires additional assis-
tance, Douglass said.
According to Doug-
lass, OHA returned to the
bargaining table after SEIU
¿ led a grievance because
the union and OHA did not
bargain for a new exceptional
needs rate during contract
negotiations last year.
Corrections
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and
sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in
the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
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