Stayton’s community hospital is poised to trade in its independent badge for Salem Health branding, if state regulators go along with the plan. Salem Health and Santiam Hospital & Clinics announced this week that they have signed a definitive agreement and will ask the Oregon Health Authority to approve bringing Santiam’s operations into the Salem Health system. If OHA signs off, Santiam’s 40-bed hospital and its outpatient clinics would become part of the region’s largest nonprofit health network, with leaders stressing that patients should not see any immediate changes to clinical care or insurance coverage. Hospital officials are pitching the deal as a way to shore up services and keep care local across the mid-Willamette Valley.
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