One in 4 Oregon youth ages 12-17 have experienced a “major depressive episode” in the last 12 months — the second-highest rate in the country, according to the state
One out of four Oregon youth ages 12-17 have experienced a “major depressive episode” in the last 12 months —the second-highest rate in the country, according to a recent presentation by Oregon Health Authority stafff.
And now Gov. Tina Kotek should create a new independent position to assist members of the public and address complaints about inadequate care to help children’s mental health in Oregon, according to the state’s health care ombuds office.
The office, located in the Oregon Health Authority, was set up to independently investigate public complaints and issues of concern, to advocate for low-income Oregonians who are on the Oregon Health Plan. The word ombuds is Swedish for “representative of the people”
Now, according to the office, Kotek needs another independent ombuds to report just to her, to help address problems affecting children and their mental health that cut across departments and individual programs. The request was aired in a meeting of the state’s Medicaid Advisory Committee last week, and is expected to be echoed in a report to be issued soon.
The agency’s public information office refused to share a draft copy of the report, but according to the presentation, the problems in children’s mental health fall most heavily on Black kids in Oregon.
“Black or African American people make up 2.75% of the total population of Oregon,” according to the presentation. However they represented 8.1% of the population of youths that were boarded for at least 24 hours in a hospital emergency department, according to the presentation.
A big part of the problem is the organizations set up to administer care to low-income people under the Oregon Health Plan, according to the Oregon Health Authority’s Ombuds office.
Staring in January 2021, for instance, the OHP was supposed to fund in-home wrap-around services for kids who need it – at a rate of 1,500 kids per year. However, a total of only 321 kids were approved for services under the program in its first two-and-a-half years, according to the presentation.
Only 9 of the 16 coordinated care organizations contracted with by the state serve the Oregon Health Plan have served 10 or more kids since 2022, according to the report.
In addition to an office under the governor to advocate for youth, the presentation recommends more community-based services for kids, and increased efforts by the 16 coordinated care organziations serving the Oregon Health Plan.
“Oregonians are in dire need of systemic change that recognizes the role of trauma and mental health needs for youth and focuses on treatment in years where it is most effective. Legislative efforts are needed to address provider network inadequacy, leading to understaffed and over-capacity facilities logjammed with increasingly acute cases, without anywhere to go,” according to the report.