Welcome to Unrepresented Employees
Week Fourteen Takeaways
April 9, 2025
On April 7, the community review board (CRB) unanimously voted to disapprove the acquisition of Legacy Health by OHSU. The CRB recommendation will be considered by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) in their final decision to disapprove, approve, or approve the transaction with conditions. Today, the OHA posted their draft recommendation. In addition to the CRB recommendation, public comments are one of four inputs in the final decision. We encourage people to continue submitting comments, which are refreshed here on the transaction website. The other two considerations for OHA’s final decision include information provided by the entities (including confidential info) and agency and publicly available data sources, reports, and analyses.
For a board that started with nine people and ended with six, the process has understandably had its challenges. Regardless, this was a public process with OHA oversight and they had a quorum to vote. The CRB voted to disapprove because they did not have enough substantive information to say with confidence that this transaction will support Oregon’s goals to improve health equity, lower costs of care, increase access to medically underserved communities, and provide better care. While they were the ones to voice this on the call, this has been reinforced by many public comments since the application was submitted.
We want to thank every CRB member for dedicating their personal time to participate, read public comments and information about each entity, engage in public discourse, and make a recommendation based on everything they learned in alignment of the guidelines they were given. We acknowledge and appreciate that it was not easy to recommend disapproving the transaction, but you represented our communities who have voiced overwhelming concerns. You were the voice for people that don’t have a platform and are ensuring choice and access for future generations of Oregonians. Thank you for continuing to share your concerns that employees are not being considered equitably, which is the primary reason our group began.
We ask the OHA to continue prioritizing the people and communities who will be most impacted by this decision, not those in positions of power or who are financially incentivized by an approval.
Week Fourteen News:
Mar 30: Oregon public health programs hit with $117 million in surprise federal cuts
Mar 31: Hospital mergers alarm experts. OHSU says its acquisition of Legacy Health will be different
Mar 31: Oregon Ethics Commission to Determine if Board Examining OHSU-Legacy Deal Has Conflicts of Interest
Apr 4: OHSU ties key players in its merger review reflect a larger problem, some say
Apr 4: Family medicine advocates worry OHSU-Legacy merger could reduce primary care
Apr 6: Portland-area residents can't find doctors, and they say it's only getting worse
Apr 7: Oregon Health Authority Should Reject OHSU's Purchase of Legacy, Community Review Board Says