Since Beth O'Brien became the chief operating officer at PeaceHealth, six members of its executive team have been terminated, while the health system lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit in late October.
A Lane County jury returned a $12.2 million judgement against PeaceHealth and its physicians after a patient was given 18 times the prescribed dose of a powerful medication causing brain damage, according to the Register Guard.
There’s also been speculation about a potential merger between PeaceHealth and Providence Health & Services after Elizabeth Dunne, its president, signed a letter of intent to collaborate on a health initiative project. Next year, the health systems intend to open a health and wellness center in Vancouver.
Earlier Dunne told the media, “This is not a merger. This is not an acquisition. This is truly a strategic affiliation and partnership in the communities that we are already serving.”
Meanwhile, the executives who lost their jobs at PeaceHealth include:
- Alan Yordy, President, CEO and Chief Mission Officer
- Tricia Roscoe, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Innovation and Development
- Elaine Dunda, Senior Vice President, Clinical Value
- John Hill, Chief Executive Officer, Oregon West Network
- Kevin Wahlstrom, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
- Ryan Ball, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer
- Dr. Howard Graman, Chief Executive Officer, PeaceHealth Medical Group,
- Sy Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Columbia Network
In all, PeaceHealth has 16,000 employees — about 5,900 of them in Lane County. It runs 10 hospitals, an 800-provider group practice and laboratory system in Alaska, Washington and Oregon.
An earlier story in The Lund Report indicated that PeaceHealth launched a plan to boost its core earnings by $130 million during the current fiscal year. It eliminated the equivalent of 500 positions through layoffs and formed a partnership with The Vancouver Clinic to become more attractive to insurance companies.
Diane can be reached at [email protected].
