The Oregon Health Authority on July 31 granted Salem Health and Stayton-based Santiam Hospital the requested emergency exemption to allow the two hospitals to merge.
The merger won’t be finalized until a separate review is completed by the Department of Justice’s Charitable Activities Section. A public hearing being held by the DOJ will take place on Aug. 5 and could add conditions to the merger.
The OHA said the emergency exemption met factors to allow the proposed merger to bypass the state’s Health Care Market Oversight program, a legislatively created entity to oversee transactions between hospitals and health care organizations…