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Quorum Health, the Tennessee-based owner of the medical center in Springfield, has removed CEO David Butler and Chief Nursing Officer Desi Shubin.
The company that owns McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center fired two of the Springfield hospital’s top leaders.
Chief Executive Officer David Butler and Chief Nursing Officer Desi Shubin are no longer with the company. Gregory Brentano was appointed interim CEO and Shelley Harris interim chief nursing officer.
“Our commitment to providing compassionate, quality health care services remain unwavering, and we will remain focused on patient care during this transition,” McKenzie-Willamette spokesperson Jana Waterman said in an email early Wednesday, July 23.
Quorum Health Corp., a Tennessee-based firm owned by private equity, is a for-profit operator of hospitals across the country, including McKenzie-Willamette.
This change comes amid compounding issues, including the Trump administration’s budget policies and a strained local health care system.
CEO had unveiled plan for Eugene ER
McKenzie-Willamette, a 113-bed hospital with comprehensive emergency services, saw patient volumes increase by nearly half from 2023 to 2024, according to Oregon Health Authority’s latest available data. Discharges from its emergency department rose from about 9,000 patients to 13,200.
The increase comes a year after PeaceHealth closed its University District emergency department, the only hospital facility within Eugene’s city limits. At its Springfield campus, PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, emergency room wait times have climbed to nearly seven hours.
At McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, the wait time averaged about 3 1/2 hours, something Butler acknowledged during a citywide health care forum hosted in September by Churchill Area Neighbors.
“There’s a lot of wait times, and we’re doing our best to accommodate that,” Butler said in response to an audience question about bringing a hospital back to Eugene.
In his response, Butler made a surprise announcement about plans for a free-standing emergency department to serve west and south Eugene. He said the hospital was in discussions with Eugene’s mayor and had conducted feasibility studies. He outlined plans for a 12-bed satellite emergency department, open 24/7 and designed to expand if needed.
“It wasn’t public knowledge. It is now,” he said during the forum. “We feel that you know we only have two really good hospitals in this community, and unfortunately, they’re both in Springfield, and even though it doesn’t take you an hour to get across town, it’s still a disadvantage.”
Most McKenzie-Willamette patients use Medicaid, Medicare
The recently passed federal tax and spending megabill brings new burdens for both health care providers and patients. Nearly 1.4 million low-income Oregonians — including about 130,000 in Lane County — rely on Medicaid for health care.
Beginning in 2027, adults 19 to 64 years old who are enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan — the state’s Medicaid program for low-income people — will have to file monthly paperwork proving they worked, went to school or volunteered at least 80 hours the previous month.
Oregon stands to lose up to $1.4 billion each year in federal Medicaid funding, and as much as $16 billion during the next decade if people don’t comply with the new work-reporting requirements, according to Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Medicaid and Medicare, the program that primarily serves those 65 and older, reimburse hospitals at much lower rates than commercial insurance. A majority of patients used Medicaid or Medicare at the hospital during the last few years, Oregon Health Authority data shows.
People who may lose access to their government-supported health care would still impact the hospital’s bottom line, Oregon Health Authority spokesperson Amy Bacher told the Chronicle.
“Safety-net hospitals in urban areas, already seeing high rates of uninsured patients, may face mounting uncompensated care costs, while rural hospitals — vital to local economies — may be forced to cut services or even close,” Bacher said.
Uncertainty at delivery unit
After Lookout Eugene-Springfield inquired about the future of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center’s delivery unit amid ongoing turnover at Oregon Medical Group, spokesperson Waterman said the hospital is exploring its options.
Oregon Medical Group plans to end its obstetrics and gynecology services, citing a shrinking team. Oregon Medical Group contracted with McKenzie Willamette Medical Center to deliver babies at the hospital’s delivery unit. The contracts end Nov. 2.
The hospital already deemed some birth units “unsustainable.” Its in-house unit with midwifery nurses — a holistic practice that offers a more natural, participatory approach to prenatal, birth and postpartum care — shut down in 2023.
McKenzie Willamette Medical Center intends to keep its delivery unit open, as it is “vitally important,” Waterman said, but offered no details.
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