Lawmakers introduce range of health care bills in a session that is clouded by a big budget hole

Lawmakers have already started to dive into one of the state’s biggest spending items: the Oregon Health Authority’s budget. As the budget-writing committees wrangle over spending, lawmakers on health care committees will consider a wide range of other bills. House Bill 4069, sponsored by the House Behavioral Health Care Committee, aims to increase the safety of mental health care professionals by requiring employers to develop and implement a written safety plan. The Oregon Health Authority would be barred from licensing new hospice operators until it finalized the new rules. Hospital help, and a grab-bagNosse has cobbled together several ideas under an omnibus bill from the House Health Care Committee.