Bill would let Oregon tribes opt into disease and PDMP data-sharing agreements with OHA

The House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care heard testimony May 8 on Senate Bill 841A, an Oregon Health Authority (OHA) agency bill that would allow the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon and an affiliated tribal epidemiology center to enter agreements with OHA for public-health data sharing.

Julie Johnson, tribal affairs director at OHA, told the committee the measure would permit two types of agreements if tribes opt in: data-sharing for communicable-disease reporting and investigations, and limited sharing of prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) data for patients with tribal affiliation. "Tribes want to continue to be able to do that," Johnson said, noting the work began during the pandemic when tribes needed case information to conduct investigations.

Johnson said the legislation recognizes tribes as sovereign public-health authorities and clarifies that participation is voluntary. She described the PDMP component as a tool to support tribal work on the opioid epidemic through research, education and public-health evaluation. Committee members asked whether the process would be similar to county public-health contract tracing; Johnson said the disease-investigation methodology would be the same and that several tribes already run public-health programs.

On funding, Johnson said the bill, as presented, does not request new funding; OHA already provides some public-health modernization funding and other supports that could assist tribes that choose to opt in. She noted tribes vary in capacity: some expanded public-health work during the pandemic and others are smaller and growing.

Committee discussion focused on confidentiality, sovereign status and implementation logistics. Representative Deal noted the new authority is similar to existing county relationships for disease reporting; Johnson said the bill aligns tribal access with that framework while respecting tribal data governance and sovereignty.

Ending: The committee closed the public hearing after questions and no formal committee action was recorded; sponsors and OHA emphasized that data-sharing would proceed only by agreement and that tribes would opt in according to their public-health priorities.