For decades, PeaceHealth Oregon has contracted with the local group, Eugene Emergency Physicians, to staff its emergency departments. Come June, that contract will not be renewed. Instead, the hospital system has chosen Atlanta-based ApolloMD as its emergency medicine partner in Springfield, Florence and Cottage Grove.
The decision has left many hospital nurses and physicians concerned about patient care.
Dr. Dave Schwartz is a hospitalist at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. A hospitalist is a physician who works solely within the walls of the hospital. He said he works regularly with Emergency Department doctors and has grown to like and trust them in the 13 years he’s been on staff.
Back in 2014, PeaceHealth tried but failed to outsource hospitalist jobs like his. Now, he argues, hospital administration is using the same playbook to try to replace the local emergency docs…