This article was last updated March 20, 2026 at 4:16 p.m.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has asked Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth to pause its plan to transition its emergency room staffing contract for 180 days, NPR-affiliate KLCC reported March 18.
Here are 11 things to know about the transition controversy and what happens next:
1. The request, sent to Jim McGovern, PeaceHealth Oregon’s chief hospital executive March 18, comes after the hospital announced plans to end its decades-long contract with Eugene (Ore.) Emergency Physicians in favor of Atlanta-based staffing group ApolloMD.
2. In a March 10 article in The Lund Report, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, said that the deal likely violated Oregon’s new corporate healthcare transaction law—one of the strictest regulations on corporate ownership of healthcare organizations.
3. ApolloMD has said that its newly established entity, Lane Emergency Physicians, would be the organization staffing PeaceHealth’s EDs.
4. In her letter, Ms. Kotek said after PeaceHealth’s decision to close its University District emergency room in 2023, she was concerned about the system’s ability to transition safely.
5. “I am troubled by the likely consequence of PeaceHealth’s actions leading to the loss of quality physicians from the area,” she wrote. “This will have a long-term effect on a region already impacted by major health care disruption and provider decline. We have seen elsewhere in the state how planned staffing changes result in serious delay and disruption despite confident assurances from administrators.”
6. She has also asked the Oregon Medical Board to provide her with weekly updates to ensure the new entity has enough licensed physicians to safely transition staffing. She also asked the system to release scoring and other information that was used to decide to switch from local emergency physicians to ApolloMD.
7. Eugene Emergency Physician group members have also signed a pledge refusing to work for ApolloMD.
8. In a statement shared with Becker’s March 20, PeaceHealth’s CEO Jim McGovern expressed regret in not communicating the transition plan more clearly, stating: “Our highest priority throughout this transition is uninterrupted access to safe and reliable emergency care. We welcome the opportunity to outline how we will deliver on this commitment and work collaboratively with your office to reinforce community confidence.
9. Dr. McGovern added that the transition pause would only create further disruptions to care, and that the system remains committed to providing “uninterrupted access to emergency care.”
10. He also noted that physicians from Lane Emergency Physicians would be embedded in the community and that PeaceHealth and ApolloMD would jointly “ensure that a group of physicians are physically present in the Lane County Service area at all times.”
“The physicians of Lane Emergency Physicians will live in our communities. Some temporary physician staffing will be used, particularly at the beginning of the transition, which is a safe and established practice,” reads the statement. “All physicians, permanent or temporary, must meet the same rigorous medical staff standards for clinical quality, competence and patient safety that the EEP physicians are required to meet today.
11. Dr. McGovern also shared with Becker’s a document detailing its request-for-proposal processes and decision-making frameworks that is also made publicly available in an effort to bring more transparency to the process.
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