Providence, a major Catholic hospital and clinic system based in Washington, has been a significant player in health insurance in Oregon, and its plan is based in Portland. With its departure from the commercial insurance market, Oregonians can expect to feel the biggest impact.

Oregon's merger review office says Providence's move to spin off its home health and hospice operations into a joint venture controlled by a venture-backed, for-profit company can proceed, provided the company invests $30 million in Oregon operations over the next five years.

Hip replacement maker Stryker has faced dozens of suits in Oregon and hundreds across the country. Now, an Albany woman’s suit says she faced pain and bone loss even after having the company’s device removed. www.thelundreport.org/content/stry...

Most members of the Oregon Health Plan already work, but health officials fear hundreds of thousands of low-income and homeless Oregonians could lose coverage when work requirements take effect next year. @garrettandrews.bsky.social reports.

State Rep. Ben Bowman, the state lawmaker who spearheaded the bill to discourage corporate meddling in patient care, says the controversy over PeaceHealth’s outsourcing plan highlighted the need to beef up a law that already is considered the toughest in the nation.

Asante has dropped its plan to buy — and revitalize — the struggling Surgery Center of Southern Oregon, which is now expected to close by June 30. The turnabout marks another bump in the road for health care in southern Oregon and Asante. @lynneterry.bsky.social reports.

The Universal Health Plan Governance Board was created to finally birth a comprehensive universal health care plan after several earlier efforts. But now, four months from its deadline to produce a report, the board is divided over how to finance a plan.

Regence and Legacy Health announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to a new contract that will allow Regence members to continue receiving care from Legacy providers without incurring high out-of-network charges.

PeaceHealth has resumed talks with Eugene Emergency Physicians after a federal judge signaled his skepticism of the hospital system’s deal with ApolloMD. Critics said the move represented exactly the sort of corporate meddling a new Oregon law was intended to prevent.

Members of the @oregonnursesassoc.bsky.social say that instead of laying off 300 caregivers and spending money on other things, Asante leadership should look for alternatives at the southern Oregon health system. www.thelundreport.org/content/asan...

@peacehealth.bsky.social announced Tuesday that it has fired a medical assistant who’s been charged in a child abuse case involving a southwest Washington pediatrician who has been found dead of apparent suicide.

Dental care experts and policymakers say Oregon leaders need to focus on creativity and efficiency to address oral health inequities affecting people in rural and lower-income communities. www.thelundreport.org/content/oreg...

Health care lags for people of color across Oregon, but the disparities are far worse for Native American residents, according to a new state-by-state comparison issued by researchers for @commonwealthfund.org.

The two-year-old turnabout strategy for Oregon Health & Science University has helped boost the teaching hospital into the black. Some providers, however, contend that the focus on accommodating certain types of patients is fueling disparities in care. @ohsunews.bsky.social

Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services issued a cease-and-desist order to a group of companies that sell coverage ‘memberships’ and exclude people with pre-existing conditions — a violation of federal standards.

Leadership of the Asante hospital system is seeking to use a loophole in the state merger approval process to avoid answering state officials’ questions about how a proposed deal to buy a Medford surgery center would affect costs.

Exclusive: Dr. Jennifer DeVoe, a prominent national leader in family medicine, said in a lawsuit threat obtained under Oregon's public records law that her removal from a $200k-a-year job at OHSU was driven by sexism and ego. www.thelundreport.org/content/laws...

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PeaceHealth's statements during a 2023 strike amounted to unlawful threats to punish workers who engaged in protected union activities, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

“These projects show what’s possible when rural communities lead, and OHA is committed to helping them turn homegrown solutions into lasting impact.” - Sejal Hathi, ASTHO member and OHA director More from Lynne Terry of @thelundreport.bsky.social: www.thelundreport.org/content/rura....

A top PeaceHealth executive repeatedly faulted emergency room physicians for admitting patients for what physicians felt was needed care, according to records kept by the doctors. When the doctors complained, the hospital system promptly moved to replace them.

A lawsuit filed by the father of slain security guard Bobby Smallwood against Legacy Health is headed for a crucial hearing in Multnomah Circuit Court over whether workers' comp law blocks the family's claims.

A small team within the Department of Consumer and Business Services helps people with a variety of health care coverage issues, fielding thousands of complaints filed against insurers each year. It was a life-changer for Cindy Collins and her daughter Tia. www.thelundreport.org/content/litt...

The Oregon Department of Justice has charged a counseling service in the Portland area with Medicaid fraud in connection with hundreds of thousands of dollars of claims.

Influential legislators, including Reps. Rob Nosse, Ed Diehl, Hai Pham and Sen. Lisa Reynolds, have thrown their weight behind calls to cut providers’ administrative burden in light of slashed funding for providers who take care of lower-income Oregonians.

Dr. Susan Huang, currently a Providence physician executive, has been tapped to become the next president and CEO of Legacy Health, filling the position held on an interim basis for nearly two years.

Opioid deaths across Oregon are in decline for the second year in a row, according to federal health projections, dropping nearly 20% in the 12 months ending in August 2025 compared to the same time a year ago, and more than 30 percent down from the state’s peak in May 2024.

Collateral damages: Legacy Health and the insurer Regence failed to reach an agreement over reimbursement rates this week and terminated their contract, pushing nearly 30,000 patients out of the Portland-based health system's network.

Researchers at @ohsunews.bsky.social say their work showed that people who had lost their coverage were more likely to have worsening blood sugar control and other complications, requiring more intensive medications to curb the effects.

State law requires nonprofit hospitals and health systems to spend a minimum amount on “community benefit” activities, most of which goes to filling gaps in Medicaid reimbursements for lower-income Oregonians. But only 79% met their state required minimum in 2024, a drop from more than 97% in 2023.

A federal judge has blocked the release of information requested under the state's public records law, including an analysis of the state health authority’s spending of public funds on community behavioral health services.

Mental health advocates have asked a federal judge to prevent counties from sending people accused of lower-level crimes to the state’s psychiatric institution. The Oregon District Attorneys Association wants Gov. Tina Kotek to stop that from happening.

A new lawsuit accuses the owner of Mall 205 of allowing thousands of gallons of sewage to pool on the property next to Adventist Health Portland, a 302-bed hospital, making staff sick and keeping patients from entering the property.

A year of missed warnings: A newly obtained federal report provides undisclosed details of how Asante Health employees saw troubling behavior by a Medford nurse who cared for dozens of patients prescribed fentanyl. It took 18 months for hospital leaders to connect the situation to rising infections.

For sale: Providence Health Plans, one of Oregon's largest insurers, is looking for a buyer. The company’s announcement, which included few details, follows months of downsizing for its owner, Providence Health & Services.

Multnomah County officials have launched a review of its emergency response system — including its troubled relationship with its ambulance provider, American Medical Response — with considerations from an outside consultant. The review comes as AMR is expected to request an increase in its rates.

New research reveals just how critical the shortage of primary care providers is in Portland. And when access is limited, conditions go unmanaged, diagnoses are delayed, and emergency departments become a default solution, says Dr. Jane Zhu, OHSU primary care doctor and researcher.

Following its deal with @peacehealth.bsky.social PeaceHealth, an Atlanta-based firm set up a company in Oregon to try to comply with a new state law governing the practice of medicine, but state lawmakers say it’s precisely the sort of arrangement they were trying to stop.

Oregon Senators on Thursday said PeaceHealth's plan to turn over emergency room services to an outside staffing and management firm was deeply concerning, and they are looking into whether it violates state law. But leaders of the Atlanta-based firm and PeaceHealth defend the deal.

How much do drugmakers' patient-assistance programs actually help patients? Oregon lawmakers wanted to find out, but a measure to press drugmakers to report on their programs ran into opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.

Charlie Health, a Montana-based virtual mental health services company, has been waging a campaign to keep operating in Oregon. State lawmakers are pushing back, seeking to recoup public funds the firm has received.

Oregon joins more than a dozen other states in a lawsuit against Health Secretary RFK Jr. and the head of the CDC, claiming they did not follow well-established scientific evidence or the law last year when they rolled back vaccine recommendations.

The state's nonprofit charity care law helps lower-income Oregonians pay for needed health care. Now, a proposed change to the law is pitting hospitals, which say it's needed to curb rising costs, against patient advocates, who warn it could burden thousands of people with medical debt.

An Oregon bill that would put limits on insurers' audits of mental health care providers is moving forward in the state legislature. The bill follows complaints by providers that under current rules they can be held accountable for repaying thousands of dollars from years-old paperwork errors.

The Oregon State Hospital, the state's largest psychiatric institution, is struggling with high rates of staff absenteeism, sparking not just financial issues, but safety concerns as well, and posing a challenge to efforts to create a culture of safety for staff and patients.

After several highly publicized cases of teens taking their own lives after confiding in AI chatbots, the Oregon State Legislature is considering a bill by @senlisareynolds.bsky.social that addresses concerns about how AI is influencing children and potentially exacerbating mental health issues.

A self-styled reform slate that has called for a more aggressive approach appears to have won the majority of leadership positions at The Oregon Nurses Association in its first widely contested board election in recent memory. The results won’t be certified before Friday.

Lake Oswego-based Dext Capital has become a financial juggernaut while serving as a primary source of loans for aesthetic medicine equipment, often bought by providers fleeing the hassles of health care. The lender's growth has come with complaints and criticisms.

State officials have launched a review of the plan by Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System to absorb Samaritan Health. The proposed transaction would pump money into the Corvallis-based hospital system while moving control and ultimate decision-making authority out of state.

A physician assistant and Oregon Health & Science University educator is suing Kaiser for damages after he says two state medical boards cleared him of a bogus allegation regarding Ozempic prescriptions that led to his termination.