The union representing employees of publicly owned Bay Area Hospital is poised to introduce legislation to prevent the financially troubled facility from being operated by a Tennessee-based private equity-owned firm.
The legislation would expand the boundaries of the public hospital district that currently operates the hospital while providing a state loan and matching funds for a two-year public levy to help the hospital recover from its recent losses. The levy would provide $20 million over two years to pay back a short-term state loan.
“I think that what we're doing here in Salem buys us that time to keep a solvent, robustly serviced Hospital in public hands in the region,” said Mike Selvaggio, political director of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, which has more than 400 members who work at the hospital.
First reported on by the Oregon Journalism Project, the push is also about supporting the region by protecting its largest employer from damaging cuts, according to Selvaggio.
“We have even more members working elsewhere in town and in the region, who are not only counting on having access to these health care services but are counting on the local economy to stay healthy,” he said.
Hospital leadership could not immediately provide a comment when contacted by The Lund Report. In the past, they’ve defended its proposed deal with Quorum Health as the best option available.
History of losses
Employing about 1,000 employees, Bay Area Hospital draws patients from a 150-mile span between Florence and the California border. It’s a public hospital district but has never levied a tax.
It’s suffered years of major losses, leading the district board to seek an outside partner. Quorum, which owns McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, promised to invest at least $75 million in the Coos Bay hospital in exchange for a 30-year operating agreement.
According to the hospital district, the firm has agreed to maintain core services for at least 10 years, not lay off or cut pay for employees in good standing and preserve its current policies on charity care for needy patients.
But the union has set up a website to flag what it says is the company’s willingness to cut services or even shut down entire hospitals when they’re not profitable, saying Quorum’s proposed deal gives it sole authority to do shutter services in Coos Bay as well.
Given Quorum’s record, the union doesn’t think the hospital board should “hand the keys” of a major regional economic driver to the firm.
“We've had very, very good and fruitful conversations with legislators on both sides of the aisle,” Selvaggio said, adding that the public levy would cost the average homeowner around seven or eight dollars a month.
