News

Contact: Maria Ramirez

In advance of the 25th anniversary year for Cascade Comprehensive Care, Inc. and its subsidiary Cascade Health Alliance, the company made donations to community projects totaling approximately $1.2 million.

The donations will fund 17 community organizations for a wide variety of projects that will impact the social determinants of health for people living in Klamath County, especially those on the Oregon Health Plan. Social determinants of health include poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, access to food, education, workforce development, and more.

"Our vision is to build a healthy community for the population we serve. As a benefit corporation, our goal is to improve the health of our community by identifying, understanding, addressing and partnering with community organizations to tackle health disparities and social determinants of health within our community to bend the medical cost curve while improving health outcomes," said CHA CEO Tayo Akins. "This community investment is a path to begin to deeply address social determinants of health with the aim of improving the population health and the health outcomes in Klamath County."

Klamath Comprehensive Care was incorporated in 1992 by Klamath County primary care physicians to serve Medicaid enrollees under the state's new managed care initiative, the Oregon Health Plan. The company became Cascade Comprehensive Care (CCC) in 1995. In 2012, CCC started Cascade Health Alliance (CHA) as a subsidiary to lead its application to become one of Oregon's coordinated care organizations (CCOs) and subsequently began operating as a CCO in 2013.

Today, CHA serves more than 17,000 Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid) members in Klamath County, and the company and its staff are proud of its long history in the community. The company also serves Medicare and commercial insurance members through its partner, ATRIO Health Plans.

These various community organizations and projects were funded thanks to CHA's generous Board of Directors, made up of local health care providers and professionals.

As CCC and CHA celebrate this milestone 25 years of service in 2017, the company will continue supporting its members and the Klamath community as a whole.

CCC and CHA will continue sharing information throughout the year highlighting each of these projects and their impact on the community.

Funded projects are:

• Klamath Hospice Inc., Community Palliative Care Program
• Oregon Institute of Technology, Mills Elementary Food Waste Project
• Sparrow Clubs USA
• Friends of the Children
• Pathfinder Club
• Department of Human Services/Klamath County Schools, Personal Preparation Program
• Kit Carson Park Remodel
• Klamath Falls Downtown Association
• Protected Bike Lane Project
• Klamath County Economic Development Association
• Klamath & Lake Community Action Services (KLCAS), housing project
• Marta's House
• Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
• Klamath Falls City Schools, After school sports programs
• Klamath and Lake Counties Food Bank
• Integral Youth Services (IYS)
• Salvation Army

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