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• Oregon is experiencing a behavioral health crisis excacerbated by systemic underinvestment in behavioral health services, provider shortages and other gaps.
• Providence CORE is partnering with CareOregon on SHIFT, a bold multi-year initiative that aims to transform behavioral health care in Oregon.
• Read on to learn how CORE is helping CareOregon and its SHIFT partners identify how the initiative is succeeding and where additional support is needed. 

Oregon is experiencing a behavioral health crisis characterized by a growing prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders and increased concerns about these challenges’ impacts on individuals and communities. Systemic underinvestment in behavioral health services and related provider shortages have exacerbated the situation, making it even harder to access this vital care.   

At the Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE), we’re proud to partner with CareOregon on their response to this crisis: the Strategic Healthcare Investment for Transformation (SHIFT). This bold multi-year initiative is focused on collaboration, significant investments in behavioral health transformation, and a commitment to ongoing learning as part of a broad effort to build a more responsive and sustainable behavioral healthcare model in Oregon. 

Read on to learn about SHIFT and how CORE is supporting this initiative through a continuous cycle of dynamic and collaborative data collection and learning. Or visit CareOregon’s SHIFT webpage for the latest SHIFT updates. 

Reimagining behavioral healthcare in Oregon 

CareOregon is a nonprofit that provides health insurance services to approximately 500,000 Oregonians, including one-quarter of Oregon Health Plan members. Through innovative programs and close collaboration with partners, CareOregon aims to improve the lives of individuals, families, and whole communities. CareOregon’s SHIFT initiative seeks to catalyze the changes needed to transform behavioral health care in Oregon so that people with behavioral health needs are truly at the center of care delivery and care teams can thrive.  

Beginning in 2021, CareOregon convened regional and national stakeholders and experts to design SHIFT, landing on a team-based model of care that centers people with behavioral health needs. In 2024, CareOregon announced the selection of six behavioral health agencies to receive the intensive technical and financial resources necessary to begin implementing SHIFT’s building blocks and guiding principles, shown in the diagram below.  

The SHIFT learning plan 

Many of CORE’s past projects have focused on barriers and facilitators to accessing healthcare, individuals’ experiences of care, and care quality. We’ve also supported innovative healthcare and Medicaid transformation initiatives in several states and previously partnered with CareOregon to evaluate a similar investment in primary care transformation. As a SHIFT evaluation partner, we’re leveraging that experience to help CareOregon learn from and potentially scale SHIFT in the future.    

Through a continuous cycle of dynamic and collaborative data collection and learning, CORE is helping CareOregon and its SHIFT partners identify how the initiative is succeeding and where additional support is needed.  

For example, in CORE’s first round of interviews focused on the development of the SHIFT model, we captured key learnings about the process that informed program improvements such as providing agencies with on-demand assistance, aligning SHIFT with other behavioral health efforts, and developing a dissemination strategy.