State and federal officials are still negotiating the final details and hope to finish in time to make the first payment, $620 million, on July 1. About 50 groups have applied to become coordinated care organizations, with some hoping to begin operating on Aug. 1.
Federal money is a "transformational achievement" but there are still significant challenges looming, said Joe Robertson, president of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, a hospital and medical school.
"There is a lot of hard work ahead of us to achieve $11 billion in savings," Robertson said. "Today's news is encouraging, but we must always focus on long-term solutions."
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Contact AP writer Jonathan J. Cooper at http://twitter.com/jjcooper
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