Oregon Health Authority OKs St. Charles is dealing with finding the Center – but with conditions that will appeal

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Oregon Health Authority has reviewed and approved a proposed St. Charles Health System to acquire and merge with The Center, a group of orthopedic and neurology centers – but in some cases the hospital group plans to appeal. .

The OHA’s Health Care Market Oversight program, created by lawmakers two years ago to review such merger proposals, issued its order on Thursday, agreeing to the process – with conditions – after to study its results in four areas: cost, experience, quality and equity.

St. Charles and The Center announced in July that they had signed a letter of intent to explore an extended relationship while seeking an emergency release from the review process, speeding up their merger plans.

But OHA rejected that fast track in August, saying there was no immediate threat of bankruptcy and that St. Charles had not yet given concrete evidence that the existing workers would be brought in with competitive wages.

Regarding one condition added to its order after its initial review, OHA said: “It will be important that St. Charles does not increase patient costs by charging new facility fees. for outpatient services provided by The Center’s providers.”

OHA noted in its findings that Center patients are not charged any center fees for services provided by their providers in the outpatient setting. Meanwhile, it said, “St. Charles receives higher commercial payments for many outpatient procedures compared to the Center, with some payments up to five times higher.” pass the Center.”

So OHA mandated that for 10 years after acquisition, “St. Charles will not charge service fees for any services provided by the Center’s health care providers.” currently not used for agency fees.

OHA critics also called it “unlikely” that the deal would harm access to services provided by the Agency. However, they added that “because of the major market share of the organizations, it will be important for the providers to decide the right situation when treating the patient, and that the providers can maintain the relationship and hospitals and other facilities.” So, the command is included. several conditions to ensure that this is the case for at least five years.

In another area, related to the quality of care, OHA found that the process may add value to the area, noting that St. Charles excels at The Center in areas such as fall risk assessment and smoking cessation, and providing patient experience. to health issues.

As for equity, the OHA said the adoption “could increase the number of patients receiving charity care, which could reduce costs for patients earning twice the poverty level.”

The health center also ordered to keep different records and said that it will follow the consequences of the agreement of St. Charles-The Center with reviews one, two and five years after completion, to assess whether the parties have kept their stated commitments.

St. Charles Health System issued this statement to NewsChannel 21 on Saturday, about its response to the decision and plans to appeal in at least one case:

“Overall, we view the approval from OHA’s Health Care Market Oversight program as exciting news, as the integration of The Center and St. Charles is critical to maintaining critical care in our community.

“However, we do not fully agree with all of the conditions set forth in the permit. In particular, one provision would limit how orthopedic services are provided in our community for a period of 10 years, which is longer than most transactional conditions we have reviewed, and we believe it is unreasonable given the rapid changes in health care.

“We are working through the OHA process to appeal this decision, which requires us to go to a contested case. Regardless of the case, the process has been approved and we will continue to proceed. first with The Center team about our merger plans,” said the hospital administration.

Willamette Week, which was following the St. Charles-The Center, noted in its report Friday that the OHA’s Health Care Market Oversight Program was established by the Oregon Legislature in 2022 to evaluate the major relationships of health care and the purchase of goods.

It said the review of the Central Oregon deal and consent decree “provides insight into HCMO’s thinking,” as it considers a “blockbuster” merger between Legacy Health and Oregon Health & Sciences University.

The HCMO report noted that the St. Charles-The Center will create a “top-down integrated system,” which could lead to higher costs without improving care, Willamette Week reported. “Therefore HCMO prohibits St. Charles from engaging in other common anti-competitive tactics in the health care industry, such as requiring newly acquired physicians to use St. Charles facilities.”