John Kitzhaber - Activities Outside Governorship

Activities Outside Governorship

Kitzhaber serves as the director of the Center for Evidence Based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. He holds an endowed chair on health care policy at The Foundation for Medical Excellence, an educational foundation that produces continuing-education programs for physicians. Kitzhaber also serves as the president of the Estes Park Institute, a continuing-education organization for community health care leaders and hospital executives.

On December 1, 2005 the Eugene Register-Guard reported that Kitzhaber was considering challenging incumbent governor Ted Kulongoski in the Democratic primary ahead of the 2006 gubernatorial election. One month later, Kitzhaber announced he would not do so.

On January 13, 2006, Kitzhaber launched the Archimedes Movement, an organization seeking to maximize the health of the population by creating a sustainable system which uses the public resources spent on health care to ensure that everyone has access to a defined set of effective health services. The goal is to create a vision for a more equitable and sustainable system as well as the political tension necessary for its realization. A legislative proposal that took input from many Oregon residents was introduced in the 2007 Oregon legislative session.

The Oregon Better Health Act failed to pass the 2007 Legislature after Kitzhaber was unable to overcome concerns raised by AARP about his inclusion of Medicare in his plan. Another health reform bill, a Senate proposal which was amended to include portions of the Archimedes Movement bill, passed instead.