10-04-2025
Proposed OHSU-Legacy merger faces opposition from community review board
PORTLAND, Ore. () — The community review board tasked with assessing Oregon Health and Science University's proposed takeover of Legacy Health has disapproved of the merger, but it could still actualize.
The board opposed the business deal on Monday, April 7. The Oregon Health Authority specifically formed the group, which consists of six community members with some sort of connection to the healthcare industry, to evaluate the proposal that was .
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The merger would combine more than 32,000 employees and 100 locations from the nonprofit health system Legacy and public research university OHSU. While the education institution has committed to investing $1 billion into expanded services for the joint system, and therefore benefitting patients, .
During the community review board's first vote on Monday, three members disapproved of the merger and two approved it 'with conditions.' The group unanimously opposed it during the second round.
After hearing further feedback from other board members, Wendi Martin said she would change her vote because 'both systems would suffer even greater losses.' She cited potential issues for the smaller entity, like a lack of staffing at hospital beds and at some of its more rural sites.
'There may also be an opportunity for OHSU to acquire or partner in a different way with specific facilities or specific sectors of Legacy, but ultimately, this is too big, too many risks for us to put enough regulators on,' Martin added.
The board has until Apr. 16 to write a final recommendation report, but OHA's Health Care Market Oversight program will have the ultimate say on whether the merger can go through.
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In a statement, the Oregon Nurses Association said it is 'confident' the deal will be approved.
'ONA strongly supports this acquisition because it will drastically increase our ability to recruit and retain more frontline caregivers while increasing access to high-quality care for Oregonians,' the organization stated, in part.
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