PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — As health care access remains in limbo for some mid-Willamette Valley communities, Oregonians are advising the state’s top attorney to sign off on the merger of two organizations.
In a public hearing held by the Oregon Department of Justice on Wednesday, a number of testifiers spoke in favor of Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics’ efforts to acquire Santiam Hospital & Clinics. The proposal’s failure could create a gap in medical services for patients of the Santiam Canyon area as the namesake health system faces dire financial challenges, according to President and CEO Maggie Hudson.
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“Our health care system is failing,” Hudson said in the hearing. “Reimbursements are declining. Medicare and Medicaid do not cover costs to deliver care. Commercial payers are finding ways to pay less and operating costs, primarily wages, continue to rise. Unfunded state regulations continue to bury the system in costs. It is unsustainable.”
Santiam Hospital and Salem Health signed a definitive agreement to merge in January, and their proposal was subject to review from the Oregon Health Authority’s Health Care Market Oversight program. But both organizations requested an emergency exemption request in early July, urging the state agency to streamline the approval process as Santiam faced “imminent risk of insolvency.”…