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ER providers at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center RiverBend said in a public letter that they would stay if permitted to continue under their 35-year local contract. The move comes after the hospital chose to replace the group with a Georgia-based contractor, ApolloMD.
This story was updated to include a statement from PeaceHealth.
In a public letter, Eugene Emergency Physicians — a group of doctors and physician assistants contracted by PeaceHealth — said it wants to continue practicing at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, provided it can remain a locally based team.
PeaceHealth is ending Eugene Emergency Physicians’ contract, which had been running for 35 years. They selected Atlanta-based ApolloMD, in what PeaceHealth described as an effort to improve patient flow and reduce wait times in the emergency department.
When it announced Feb. 3, it was ending the contract, hospital leadership said the company, ApolloMD, intends to retain many, if not all, of the current Eugene Emergency Physicians workers.
But all of the group’s 41 medical professionals — 32 doctors and 9 physician assistants — employed through the local group signed a pledge not to work with ApolloMD for at least 90 days. Some plan never to return, citing concerns with physician treatment and patient care.
On Monday, Feb. 16, Scott Williams, a physician with the Eugene Emergency Physicians, issued the public letter on behalf of the group.
Eugene Emergency Physicians (EEP) extends its gratitude to the communities we have served for the past 35 years.
Since 1991, our physicians have had the privilege of caring for generations of families in times of need. The Emergency Department is a necessary, challenging and deeply human place to work. Our jobs are taxing and rewarding in equal measure. It has been our honor to provide emergency medical care 24 hours a day, seven days a week to the people of this region.
It was with great sadness that we learned that our contract would not be renewed. While this transition was not our choice, we want the community to know that we do not wish to leave the patients and colleagues we have served for more than three decades. While we acknowledge the difficulties that our departments have had, all 41 of us are committed to improving our hospitals, and we firmly believe in Oregonians serving Oregonians.
We would wholeheartedly welcome a path forward with PeaceHealth that allows us to continue practicing here under a local banner and staffing all of their Oregon Emergency Departments. We want to stay in the places we call home, in the roles we love, doing meaningful and vitally important work.
Thank you for the trust you have placed in us over the years. We will never forget what it meant to stand by you during life’s most urgent and vulnerable moments.
PeaceHealth spokesperson Joe Waltasti emailed the following statement in response to the group’s public statement.
While contract discussions are between individual physicians and ApolloMD, we sincerely hope these physicians choose to remain in the community and continue to work with us.
PeaceHealth told Lookout Eugene-Springfield earlier this month that ApolloMD leaders were at its hospitals meeting with nurses, physicians and administrators.
