History

In 1977, Agate originated as an individual practice association for physicians in Lane County, Oregon under the name Lane Individual Practice Association (Lipa). Lipa started as a physicians IPA primarily to coordinate care and negotiate risk and fee schedule arrangements with managed care organizations. Most physicians in Lane County joined.

In 1989, the Oregon Health Plan, a privatized managed care approach was launched by then Governor Dr. John Kitzhaber. Commercial health plans originally serviced Lane County members but were unable to meet State access and coverage requirements at the level of funding which was provided by the State. Lipa bid and was awarded a contract with the State and by 2001 was successfully providing both coverage and access to approximately 30,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in the State of Oregon well within the State’s budget. Armed with both provider side and health plan side expertise, Lipa began developing products and services that could dramatically improve the healthcare system. Agate was incorporated to serve as a holding company for these innovations. While the focus was primarily on access to high quality healthcare, Agate strived to make a system that would also benefit the community of providers, payers and purchasers.

Today, Agate has five subsidiary companies including Lipa that fulfill this mission.