Political Quotes

“for 35 years, PeaceHealth Hospital, the only level II trauma center between Corvallis, Oregon, and Crescent City, California, abruptly ended its contract with our local emergency room staffing group, Eugene Emergency Physicians. With little notice and significant local opposition, PeaceHealth has awarded the contract to a Georgia-based management and medical staffing firm, Apollo. Beyond losing locally based physicians who have met or exceeded performance standards in a hospital that has refused to address the lack of adequate patient care rooms, the Apollo Group appears to be a shell company set up to get around Oregon's law to ban the corporate practice of medicine. The Apollo Group bills itself as physician-owned; however, their office houses 40 local groups in Atlanta, which also houses ValorBridge, a venture capital fund managed by the same person who manages the Apollo staffing firm. When my office asked PeaceHealth CEO Jim McGovern about the obvious conflict, he said: "That is just a side hustle." Uber is a side hustle. Corporate practice of medicine is not a side hustle. Allowing venture capital firms and hedge funds to siphon money from our healthcare system instead of providing quality, affordable, and appropriate care to our communities is what is wrong with our healthcare system. We need to follow Oregon's lead and make this practice illegal.”