Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth’s plan to replace emergency services contracts at three Oregon locations has resulted in a slew of controversy between clinicians, hospital executives and legislators in recent weeks.
Lawmakers have begun to scrutinize the arrangement between peaceHealth and Lane Emergency Physicians, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based ApolloMD.
Now, physicians at PeaceHealth are under pressure to sign a new contract with ApolloMD as the negotiations move forward, CBS affiliate KVAL 13 reported March 17.
Here are five updates on the controversy:
1. A physician at Peace Harbor Medical Center in Florence (Ore.) told the publication that none of the roughly 10 full-time employed ER physicians, some of whom have worked at PeaceHabor for more than 10 years, have signed a new contract, but noted that they most likely will.
2. The contract shift would move the physicians’ employment status from W2 employees with full benefits to 1099 self-employed physicians. PeaceHealth told KVAL that there was a W2 option for employees.
3. But for some, signing the contract may make more sense than moving, one physician told KVAL.
4. ApolloMD told the publication that while it wants all current physicians to stay on and return to the hospital, it has already hired a few people and credentialed dozens more.
5. Lawmakers are still deliberating whether or not PeaceHealth and ApolloMD violated a new Oregon law cracking down on corporate healthcare transactions. In a March 10 article in The Lund Report, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, one of the law’s primary advocates, said that “all the information we have so far indicates that the structure that Apollo is using is typical of … the type of model our bill was designed to prevent.”
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.