Dr. Maggie Bennington-Davis to join Health Share of Oregon as Senior Medical Director

(Portland, OR) – Health Share of Oregon announced today the appointment of Dr. Maggie Bennington-Davis as Senior Medical Director of the Tri-County Metro area coordinated care organization (CCO). Currently Chief Medical Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, Oregon’s largest comprehensive community mental health program, Dr. Bennington-Davis will join Health Share on May 18.

As Health Share’s Senior Medical Director, Dr. Bennington-Davis will lead the CCO’s work in delivery system transformation. Using data and metrics to ensure Health Share’s clinical transformation initiatives are measureable, reliable and designed to achieve the Triple Aim, she will help facilitate provider-driven change at the primary health team level, as well as across the model of care continuum.

“Maggie’s background in quality and metrics, in developing systems, and improving outcomes will be a valuable asset in furthering our health transformation efforts,” said Janet L. Meyer, CEO of Health Share. “Her ability to build partnerships across the community, from Outside In to the Portland Police Bureau, will be an important asset in a collective impact organization like Health Share.”

Meyer added that, with many of Health Share’s members disproportionately affected by mental health and addictions issues, having a psychiatrist as Senior Medical Director brings additional value to the CCO’s efforts in behavioral health integration.

Dr. Bennington-Davis currently serves on Health Share’s Quality Management Council and is also chair-elect of the Oregon Health Authority’s statewide Metrics and Scoring Committee. At Cascadia, she has been heavily involved in health reform as it pertains to mental health, including implementing the first Forensic Assertive Community Treatment program in Multnomah County, a Health Share-funded effort.

“I am looking forward, as a member of Health Share’s leadership, to further the work already begun in the integration of primary care and wellness into mental health and addictions services,” said Dr. Bennington-Davis. “This is an opportunity to expand on the work we’ve achieved at Cascadia and create a regionally integrated patient-centered system to improve the health of our members and of our community.”

Since 2006, Dr. Bennington-Davis has served as the Chief Medical Officer and, since 2008, also Chief Operating Officer for Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare. In her role, she provided leadership for mental health and addictions medical services, including innovative programs like Project Respond, a mobile mental-health crisis response team that provides crisis intervention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; a 7-day a week walk-in mental health crisis clinic; and Crisis Respite, which serves as a short-term step down or alternative to the hospital. With experience in both finance and health care, she also helped Cascadia stabilize its finances and operations, while improving quality, growing substantially, and successfully shifting to new payment environments.

Prior to Cascadia, Dr. Bennington-Davis served as Psychiatry Medical Director for a regional medical center (Salem Hospital), as well as hospital Chief of Staff. Maggie led development of a cultural change model for implementation of trauma-sensitive services with the subsequent elimination of seclusion and restraint on an acute psychiatric inpatient unit. She has co-authored a book and published articles and chapters on the subject, and has done hundreds of consultations and presentations regarding organizational change, trauma-informed environments, and leadership. She is on faculty at the Sanctuary Institute.

Dr. Bennington-Davis completed her psychiatry residency at Oregon Health Sciences University, where she remains on the faculty, and a Masters of Medical Management degree at Tulane University School of Public Health in 2005.

About Health Share of Oregon
Serving over 240,000 members in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties, Health Share of Oregon is a unique community-wide partnership created to ensure quality, cost-effective physical, dental and mental health care for Oregon Health Plan members. With a network of over 16,000 providers, including over 900 dentists, Health Share provides an integrated community delivery system with the objective of achieving better care, better health and lower costs for the Medicaid population and for the region.

Health Share is a collaborative of 11 founding partners: Adventist Health, CareOregon, Central City Concern, Clackamas County, Kaiser Permanente, Legacy Health, Multnomah County, Oregon Health & Science University, Providence Health & Services, Tuality Health Alliance and Washington County.