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HB 4038
This proposal did not become law. Potential effect if enacted: The measure legally suspends the Oregon Health Authority's enforcement authority over the Health Care Cost Growth Target program for a decade, barring OHA from analyzing cost overruns, mandating performance improvement plans, or levying financial penalties on providers and payers for calendar years 2021 through 2035. Materially, this halts regulatory accountability mechanisms while preserving the underlying statutory framework, effectively shifting cost-containment oversight to post-2036.
Generated explanation · Introduced · Analyzed 8/19/2026 · Open official Introduced text
This proposal did not become law.
Generated analysis of Introduced text; it does not establish that the bill applies to you. Read the full decision brief.
No upcoming event is verified in the available records.
Plain-language analysis
Generated analysis, not an official summary or legal advice. Confirm with linked Oregon documents.
This proposal did not become law. The generated effects below describe what it would have required if enacted.
Potential effect if enacted: The measure legally suspends the Oregon Health Authority's enforcement authority over the Health Care Cost Growth Target program for a decade, barring OHA from analyzing cost overruns, mandating performance improvement plans, or levying financial penalties on providers and payers for calendar years 2021 through 2035. Materially, this halts regulatory accountability mechanisms while preserving the underlying statutory framework, effectively shifting cost-containment oversight to post-2036.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Official sources do not state why this measure was proposed.
Sponsor testimony, staff summaries, committee materials, or statutory findings may explain it.
Inferred from cited text; not a stated purpose.
The measure may aim to reduce regulatory compliance burdens and financial exposure for healthcare entities during a period of market adjustment or economic volatility, inferred from the explicit suspension of analytical requirements, performance mandates, and penalty authorities tied to cost growth targets.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Legally barred from conducting cost growth analyses, requiring corrective action plans, or imposing penalties for a decade; administrative resources previously allocated to program enforcement are redirected.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Exempt from OHA oversight, performance improvement mandates, and financial penalties related to health care cost growth targets for calendar years 2021 through 2035; compliance reporting obligations are suspended.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Indirectly affected through the absence of a structured regulatory mechanism to monitor, deter, or correct systemic healthcare cost inflation, potentially altering premium trajectories and out-of-pocket affordability.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Enforcement and compliance obligations are suspended; providers and payers face no immediate regulatory risk or financial penalties tied to cost growth targets through 2035.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Administrative costs for OHA decrease due to halted monitoring activities; providers and payers avoid expenses associated with data reporting, target benchmarking, and performance plan development.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Market behavior might have shifted toward revenue optimization over cost containment, as the deterrent effect of financial penalties and mandated corrective actions is removed.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Financially distressed healthcare providers or insurers
A major provider system or payer faces severe liquidity constraints due to an unexpected economic shock or public health emergency; the suspension prevents punitive penalties and would have allowed operational restructuring without regulatory interference, preserving service delivery and workforce stability.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Oregon consumers and state budget
Potential effect if enacted: Healthcare costs surge due to unchecked pricing power among providers or payers; without OHA's analytical or penalty tools, systemic cost growth accelerates unchecked, leading to significantly higher premiums, reduced affordability, and increased uncompensated care burdens through 2036.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: bill_text
Sources · Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: The measure trades immediate regulatory accountability and cost-containment enforcement for short-to-medium-term relief from compliance burdens and financial penalties on healthcare entities, yielding reduced administrative costs and operational flexibility for providers/payers but sacrificing a structured mechanism to monitor or deter systemic healthcare cost inflation.
Potential effect if enacted: Lower regulatory compliance costs and administrative burden for healthcare providers and payers.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Operational flexibility for entities navigating market volatility or restructuring without penalty exposure.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Loss of a statutory mechanism to monitor, deter, or correct systemic healthcare cost growth.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Potential acceleration of premium and out-of-pocket costs for consumers due to absent regulatory deterrence.
Basis: Bill text · Source: Introduced
Model self-rating: high. Analysis is strictly derived from the provided introduced bill text; no external assumptions are applied. This is the model’s assessment of its own analysis, not independent verification or human review.
Possible effects if adopted; not current bill text.
This proposal has not become law. The generated effects below describe what it would require if enacted.
If adopted, the amendment would rewrite ORS 442.386 to create an active health care cost growth target program that would require all Oregon providers and payers to report annual aggregate compensation, calculate spending against state economic benchmarks, and develop performance improvement plans when costs exceed targets. Financial penalties would apply for repeated exceedances or non-participation. Because the introduced bill simultaneously bars enforcement of the program until January 1, 2036, adopting both measures would establish a detailed regulatory framework that remains dormant for ten years before full reporting, plan requirements, and penalty authority activate.
Basis: Inferred · Sources: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment; Introduced
Official sources do not state why this measure was proposed.
Sponsor testimony, staff summaries, committee materials, or statutory findings may explain it.
Inferred from cited text; not a stated purpose.
The amendment mandates annual reporting of aggregate total compensation and ties accountability to cost growth relative to state economic indicators, suggesting a legislative aim to shift health care financing oversight toward wage transparency while using macroeconomic benchmarks to calibrate affordability targets rather than direct price controls.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Would have to implement data collection for annual aggregate compensation, calculate cost growth against state benchmarks, draft performance improvement plans with specific cost drivers and success metrics when targets are breached, and face financial penalties after three exceedances in five years or non-participation.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Subject to identical reporting, target calculations, and penalty requirements as providers. would have to develop performance improvement plans when spending exceeds the growth target and may seek waivers for market disruptions.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
OHA administers data collection, adopts rules for waivers and penalties, would provide technical assistance templates, and assigns liaison contacts. The Board selects the economic indicator benchmark and oversees program implementation.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: Indirectly affected through potential shifts in provider pricing strategies, insurer premium adjustments, and long-term system affordability efforts once enforcement begins after 2036.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Providers and payers would incur administrative costs to build data reporting systems, calculate per capita and entity-level cost growth, and draft performance improvement plans with defined timelines and success metrics.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
OHA would bear rulemaking, oversight, and technical assistance costs to manage waiver requests, publish annual reports, and conduct public hearings on spending trends.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: The explicit exclusion of total compensation from accountability calculations may reduce direct pressure on provider wages while focusing cost containment efforts on other spending drivers, potentially altering how entities allocate resources between staff compensation and administrative or supply costs.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Enforcement remains suspended until January 1, 2036 under the introduced bill, meaning compliance activities would occur without immediate penalty risk during the moratorium period.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Introduced
Rural or safety-net provider facing temporary market disruption
Potential effect if enacted: A rural hospital experiences a sudden, documented supply chain collapse and regional economic contraction. It successfully petitions OHA for a waiver under unforeseen market conditions, avoids penalty triggers, utilizes state technical assistance to restructure procurement contracts, and maintains staff retention and patient access without financial distress.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Large multi-state payer operating in Oregon
Potential effect if enacted: A payer systematically exceeds the growth target by shifting costs to non-covered administrative services and high-fee ancillary products. It repeatedly triggers penalty assessments, passes compliance shortfalls and penalty costs onto all Oregon policyholders through premium increases, and uses waiver requests for routine market fluctuations to delay meaningful cost containment.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: The distinction rests on whether cost shifts fall within documented market disruptions versus routine business decisions, and whether compensation exclusions are applied to legitimate wage data rather than disguised service fees.
Sources · Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: The measure trades immediate regulatory enforcement for a structured, long-term accountability framework that prioritizes compensation transparency and economic benchmarking over direct price controls.
Predictable cost tracking aligned with state economic indicators would reduce arbitrary spending spikes.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: Targeted performance improvement support and waiver flexibility help entities navigate genuine market disruptions without punitive penalties.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: Explicit exclusion of total compensation from accountability calculations protects provider wage stability while focusing cost containment on other drivers.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Potential effect if enacted: Consumer protections and cost containment mechanisms remain dormant until 2036, delaying system-wide affordability impacts.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Introduced
Potential effect if enacted: Significant administrative burdens fall on providers and payers to collect compensation data, calculate growth metrics, and draft performance improvement plans.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Penalty evasion through waiver reliance or cost-shifting strategies could undermine the program's affordability goals.
Basis: Inferred · Source: Amendment -1 — proposed amendment
Model self-rating: high. The amendment's statutory language explicitly defines program administration, reporting requirements, performance improvement plan criteria, penalty triggers, and waiver standards. The introduced bill's moratorium provision is unambiguous regarding enforcement suspension. This is the model’s assessment of its own analysis, not independent verification or human review.
7 records currently loaded
Records available in the current snapshot.
Earliest loaded signal
Introduced bill text posted
Posted Jan 28, 2026, 3:25 PM PST
Uncertain
Independent AI assessments disagree; no supported adjudication is available.
AI assessment dated 2026-09-29. This classification is separate from enactment and legal effect.
Evidence snapshot: 2026-09-29. Later legislative records are not automatically reassessed.
Policy purpose: uncertain.
Reviewer: /root/review_recent_a · 2026-09-29
Not a qualifying replacement
Only the introduced bill is available; the packet shows no adopted replacement version or qualifying amendment.
Policy purpose: broadly retained.
“SECTION 1. (1) As used in this section, “health care cost growth,” “payer” and 6 “provider” have the meanings given those terms in ORS 442.385. 7 (2) For a provider or payer that exceeds the health care cost growth target established 8 under ORS 4”
Introduced
“SECTION 1. (1) As used in this section, “health care cost growth,” “payer” and 6 “provider” have the meanings given those terms in ORS 442.385. 7 (2) For a provider or payer that exceeds the health care cost growth target established 8 under ORS 4”
Introduced
Reviewer: /root/review_recent_b · 2026-09-29
Proposed replacement only
The proposed amendment deletes the full 10-year moratorium and inserts a different statutory penalty exception. Its status is Proposed and the bill remained in committee; no majority adoption is documented.
Policy purpose: substantially changed.
“SECTION 1. (1) As used in this section, “health care cost growth,” “payer” and 6 “provider” have the meanings given those terms in ORS 442.385. 7 (2) For a provider or payer that exceeds the health care cost growth target established 8 under ORS 442.386 dur”
Introduced
“Delete lines 5 through 17 and insert: 4 “SECTION 1. ORS 442.386 is amended to read: 5 “442.386. (1) The Legislative Assembly intends to establish a health care 6 cost growth target, for all providers and pay”
Amendment -1
“The authority may not impose a financial penalty on any 8 provider or payer that has: 9 “(a) Ceased to do business in the market for which the provider or 10 payer was determined to have exceeded the cost growth target without 11 reasonab”
Amendment -1
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Selected document summary
Substantial replacement
What the document says to change
Delete lines 5 through 17 and insert:
Official records (1)
Oregon records no individual sponsors.
Presession filing record
Introduced and printed pursuant to House Rule 12.00. Presession filed.
LC 188 draft
Date printed on LC draft: December 15, 2025
LC 188 became HB 4038
Mapping document posted: January 12, 2026 at 1:11 AM PST
LC0188_DRAFT_2026_Regular_Session
House Interim Committee on Health Care introduction work session
Committee meeting: January 14, 2026 at 2:30 PM PST
HR E
Committee introduction motion
Committee meeting: January 14, 2026 at 2:30 PM PST
A motion was made to adopt the listed legislative concepts as committee bills.
Official vote: 8-0-0
Committee introduction allows consideration; it does not imply every member supported the introduced or final text.
Records already listed in Activity are not repeated here.
Official origin records are incomplete; missing facts are not inferred.
7 events
Full timeline
7 entries shown.
In committee upon adjournment.
Public Hearing held.
Public Hearing
Heard · Agenda item 2 · Room HR 60 · Prohibits the Oregon Health Authority from taking enforcement actions against providers or payers under the Health Care Cost Growth Target program before January 1, 2036.
Amendment -1 proposed
Referred to Health Care.
First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk.
“Prohibits the Oregon Health Authority from taking enforcement actions against providers or payers under the Health Care Cost Growth Target program before January 1, 2036.”
Confirm with the official record.
Supplemental, source-linked analysis from project researchers and community contributors. It is separate from Oregon's official record.