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(Randy L. Rasmussen / The Oregonian)

The number of uninsured patients being seen at Oregon Health & Science University's hospital has slowed to a trickle since the Affordable Care Act kicked in this year, Lawrence Furnstahl, the university's chief financial officer, told his board Thursday.

While uninsured patients last year constituted five percent of the patients seen by OHSU, that number dropped to two percent in the first three months of 2014. In the last two months, the ratio has dropped to less than one percent, Furnstahl said to the OHSU board.

Furnstahl's presentation came before the board approved a $2.3 billion OHSU budget for next year, and on the same day the university opened a new life science building in its South Waterfront campus.

Furnstahl also unveiled a more transparent budgeting system as well as $17.5 million to augment faculty salaries. The changes are intended to help respond to complaints by many faculty members that the university was not supporting its academics and core research -- even prompting a staff letter of concern to the administration last year.

The board approved tuition hikes of two percent for nursing and medical students as well as seven percent for dental students, and also approved a plan to arm its police force in September.

Furnstahl said OHSU had expected to see fewer uninsured patients, but over the span of "several years," he said. Instead, it "happened in the first several months."

The surprising development came because of the number of Oregonians who signed up for the state's low-income Medicaid program – more than 340,000 of them -- starting in January. The unexpectedly large number was driven by persistent unemployment, higher income limits and a highly streamlined application process allowing Oregon Health Plan enrollees to bypass the troubled Cover Oregon health exchange.

Though the increase in paying patients improves OHSU's revenue in one area, the gain is offset by a cut in Medicare payments also made under the new federal health reform law, Furnstahl said.

The board also approved a plan to issue firearms to its 25-member police force. Greg Moawad, the university's public safety director, said the proposal stemmed in part from a situation in which a man with a gun threatened OHSU staff, and Portland police took 14 minutes to respond.

In situations like those, "time equals life," he said.

-- Nick Budnick