Get To Know Alan Bates

Get to know Dr. Alan Bates!

Dr. Alan Bates has lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of his 54 years. Dr. Bates attended two years of pre-med at Wayne State University and then entered the US Army and volunteered for Vietnam where he spent one tour of duty. He returned and completed his last two years of college and graduated with a degree from Central Washington State University in 1969. After working for four years with Parke Davis & Company, he entered medical school at the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine. He interned at Denver General and Rocky Mountain Hospital in Colorado. After completing his internship, he moved to Southern Oregon where he has remained in private practice for the last 20 years.

Before being elected to the Oregon House, he was Chief of Medicine at both RVMC and Providence Medical Center, and a board member of a group of primary care physicians. He served three terms on the Eagle Point School Board and an appointed term on the Governor’s task force on Quality in Education.

In 1989, Dr. Bates was appointed to the Health Services Commission, which was instrumental in producing and implementing the Oregon Health Plan. He was re-appointed by Governor Barbara Roberts and again by Governor John Kitzhaber, M.D. He led and chaired the Commission for three years, until resigning to run for public office.

Alan Bates was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2000 and again in 2002. He served on the full Ways and Means Committee and the Ways and Means Sub Committees on Education and Health Care. Dr. Bates was instrumental in drafting legislation to revamp the Oregon Health Plan and authored the provider tax legislation to maintain critical funding for OHP patients and bring additional federal dollars to Oregon for Medicaid patients. He also passed legislation to augment funding to Oregon Trauma Centers and ensure the viability of Oregon’s lifesaving trauma care system. During the interim, he served on the Legislative Emergency Board (E-Board).

In 2004, Dr. Bates was elected to the Oregon State Senate. His Senate colleagues then elected him to a Leadership position as a freshman Senator. He now serves on the Joint Ways and Means Committee as well as the Sub Committees on Human Services and Natural Resources.

“… Dr. Bates is a person of great fairness and integrity, who has the rare ability to temper a forthright, practical approach with compassion and humanity. … he has the intelligence and experience to comprehend the complex issues that face our elected officials.”
— William Coyne, Medford, 4.4.04