PeaceHealth Discharges Oregon Hospital Chief After Doctors Push Back on ER Contract Plan

PeaceHealth announced Thursday that its top Oregon hospital executive, Dr. Jim McGovern, was discharged, a month after McGovern was placed on administrative leave over a contentious Lane County emergency room services contract.

McGovern became chief executive in 2024. In April this year, PeaceHealth’s physician-led 26-member Medical Executive Committee, which helps oversee patient care at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, accused McGovern of violating the scope of his administrative license by attempting to dictate patient care decisions.

Physicians also questioned McGovern’s role in PeaceHealth’s decision to end the 35-year contract with Eugene Emergency Physicians and replace them with ApolloMD, a Georgia-based hospital staffing company.

This received fierce push-back from physicians, community members, and elected officials, ultimately culminating in a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges PeaceHealth’s attempt to oust a local physicians group violated Oregon’s ban on the corporate practice of medicine in that McGovern illegally meddled in patient care decisions and helped orchestrate a failed plan to replace emergency doctors with a corporate staffing firm.

During last week’s court hearing, U.S. District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai noted that ApolloMD executives were dishonest under oath and pointed to the lack of a written contract between ApolloMD and the new physician group it created.

This arrangement appeared to let the company obscure its control over the doctors.

PeaceHealth officials subsequently confirmed that the hospital chain would renew its contract with local doctors for at least three years.