ASHLAND — An Ashland doctor who co-developed an health care information site for America Online has been tapped to lead the Oregon Health Plan.

Dr. Allen Douma, 60, said that in his new position, he's hoping to develop partnerships between public agencies and health care providers to make health care more efficient.

The health plan was hailed as an innovative approach to health care when it was introduced in the mid-1990s, but funding cuts over the past 10 years eliminated many treatments and reduced the number of people who were covered.

Douma has worked primarily in health care management and communications for the past 15 years. He has been medical director for two national insurance companies, and he was the author of a syndicated column called ``Ask the Family Doctor'' for eight years.

Bruce Goldberg, director of the Department of Human Services, said Douma's experience in health care management and information technology makes him ``the right guy'' to lead the Office of Medical Assistance Programs, which oversees the health plan.

Goldberg said the size of even the diminished health plan makes it the largest single purchaser of health care in Oregon.

Douma earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia. He worked as a general practitioner in rural North Dakota and as an emergency room physician in rural Virginia before focusing on health care management and communication. He and his wife came to Ashland four years ago.

Douma's new job begins June 1. His annual salary will be $114,516, according to Jim Sellers of the Department of Health and Human Services.

He said Oregon will have to figure out ways to improve a health care delivery system that he called ``extraordinarily inefficient.''