Oregon Hospital Political Action Committee

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, halted a legislative effort to force hospitals and health insurers to be more candid about their prices following closed-door negotiations with their influential lobbyists. The move rankled some in Courtney’s caucus who have been steeling for greater reforms after Oregon was given an F along with 44 other states by the Catalyst for Payment Reform, a national organization that scores states on price transparency.

The spending by doctors groups, nurses, hospitals, dentists and insurers helps underwrite legislators’ campaigns, as political action committees seek to influence legislation and the state budget in Oregon. Groups that gave less have had considerably less clout in Salem.