A frustrated federal judge this week appeared skeptical that PeaceHealth’s plan to hire a national contractor to help run its three ERs in Oregon meets the state’s toughest-in-the-U.S. ban on corporate practice of medicine.
But U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said it’s hard to tell because so many details around the transition remain murky.
Over three days of testimony, Kasubhai pressed witnesses on basic but elusive points: who will actually hold authority, who will make key decisions affecting patient care and what written agreements spell out the roles and boundaries of the companies and physicians involved…