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RiverBend’s emergency department, along with the PeaceHealth ER in Cottage Grove, will no longer be served by Eugene Emergency Physicians. The hospital network has instead hired a national company based in Georgia. Hospital leaders say the decision was based in part on ER wait times. Some nurses are concerns about the change.
PeaceHealth has ended a 35-year contract with Eugene Emergency Physicians, a group of doctors and physician assistants that provides emergency medical services alongside hospital-employed nurses.
About 50 people work under Eugene Emergency Physicians, which is registered in Oregon as a professional corporation owned by physicians and contracted to provide services at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield and Cottage Grove Community Medical Center.
Thirty-three of the 50 work in the emergency department at RiverBend, where patients experience some of the longest wait times in Oregon. RiverBend is the only Level II trauma center — providing specialized care for severely injured patients — between Corvallis and the California border.
Wait time, which spiked after PeaceHealth closed its emergency department at its University District location in 2023, was among the factors that played a role in the decision, according to Kimberly Ruscher, chief medical officer of PeaceHealth Oregon Network.
Ruscher told Lookout Eugene-Springfield that with the Eugene Emergency Physicians contract set to expire this summer, PeaceHealth issued a request for proposals, a standard procurement process inviting groups to submit bids outlining their services.
PeaceHealth selected ApolloMD, a Georgia-based company owned by physicians, citing the group’s track record of improving emergency department patient flow and reducing wait times, Ruscher said. She also pointed to what she described as quality and patient-satisfaction programs.
Ruscher did not comment on Eugene Emergency Physicians’ history or performance. She also did not provide details about the bids, dollar amount, or contract terms, but said the decision was not a cost-cutting measure.
“We were really invested in making this change, though we know it’s hard, because we really believe this is the right thing for providing good care to the community,” she said.
The hospital sent an email announcement about the new contract to staff Tuesday, Feb. 3. It was hardly a surprise, but it was still met with tears on the emergency department floor, as registered nurse Kylie Shorack heard from people who were on shift at the time.
Shorack spoke to Lookout Eugene-Springfield as a member of her union, Oregon Nurses Association, not on behalf of her employer. She is not part of Eugene Emergency Physicians, but works closely with the group’s doctors and physician assistants. She described the news as “devastating.”
“We’re a family down there [in the emergency department]. We trust each other, and that’s the most important thing when you’re working in an emergency department,” Shorack said. “We feel great concern for our community, because there’s something that’s going to be lacking. That’s going to be a barrier to providing quality patient care.”
Credit: Ashli Blow / Lookout Eugene-Springfield
In December, when the procurement process was still underway, Oregon Nurses Association, sent a letter to PeaceHealth executives, calling the replacement ” a mistake.”
The letter was signed by nurses who work at RiverBend.
“ONA nurses strongly support our colleagues with Eugene Emergency Physicians and oppose any efforts to further outsource and corporatize local emergency medical care,” the letter said.
The letter continued, in part:
“Over the past 18 months, our emergency room nurses have worked closely with EEP to refine the ED’s front-end processes. During this period, we faced historically high patient volumes. Yet in October—despite recording the highest October census in our ED’s history—we achieved the lowest “left without being seen” rate and some of the shortest lengths of stay since 2021. Losing these physicians now would jeopardize this hard-won progress and further destabilize the department as we enter our peak season.”
Kevin Mealy, spokesperson for the nurse association’s advocacy team, said the association is assessing next steps and encouraging PeaceHealth to reconsider.
“We’re very concerned about its impacts on patients, given the ER and providers they’re already dealing with,” he said. “These aren’t physicians or physician assistants we want to lose [because of] their expertise in the hospital.”
Those with Eugene Emergency Physicians will continue providing care under the existing contract until it expires this summer.
ApolloMD intends to retain many, if not all, of the current Eugene Emergency Physicians workers, Ruscher said, though she did not provide details on onboarding or outreach. She said PeaceHealth employees some of its own physicians and clinicians at their emergency department in Florence, and they are part of the transition.
The number of physicians who will come in under ApolloMD was not specified.
Ruscher told Lookout Eugene-Springfield that ApolloMD leaders were at PeaceHealth hospitals Wednesday meeting with nurses, physicians and administrators.
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Shorack’s last name and clarify employment at PeaceHealth’s emergency department in Florence.
