January 19, 2012 – Salem Health has announced that it’s opening a new clinic in May, known as Willamette Health Partners Family Medicine in West Salem. It will be staffed by three physicians who currently practice in the Salem Hospital campus clinic -- Drs. Rashanda Brown, Patricia Otis and Anna Techentin.
Yet, that property -- located at 1049 Edgewater St. NW – had been owned by a prominent member of Salem Health’s Foundation Board – Paul Gehlar.
When Gehlar was asked by The Lund Report to comment on whether this represented a potential conflict of interest and about the terms and conditions concerning the sale to Salem Health, he declined to issue a statement – instead, referring the question to the Foundation, which did not respond.
Gehlar recently retired as CEO of Oregon Food Products, after selling the food processing company that had been a family-run business for the past 76 years.
Meanwhile, Norm Gruber, president of Salem Health, has initiated conversations to explore the creation of a physician-hospital organization (PHO) – bringing together independent physicians along with his medical staff to negotiate contracts with payers and share in the financial rewards of controlling cost. .
A PHO could be a predecessor to establishing a coordinated care organization that would provide care to people on the Oregon Health Plan in Marion-Polk counties.
Legislators are expected to give the go-ahead to transform Oregon’s healthcare system when they convene next month and set the ground rules so that these coordinated care organizations can emerge which will integrate physical, mental and dental services.
Salem Health spokesperson Sherryl Hoar declined to comment about Gruber’s presentation, which was obtained by The Lund Report. That document indicates what Gruber considers the main advantages of a PHO – improved quality and cost control, greater transparency, access to electronic tools to enhance patient care efficiency and a focus on prevention.
Salem Health is a regional health system comprised of Salem Hospital, West Valley Hospital and Willamette Health Partners Family Medicine.
