A hospital tried to replace them. These Oregon physicians fought back — and won

What do you do when a hospital decides to replace your independent physician group with a corporate staffing company? For this group of physicians, the answer was simple: fight back.

In the fall of 2025, Eugene Emergency Physicians (EEP) learned that after more than 35 years of serving the community, its emergency medicine contract would be awarded to an out-of-state corporate medical group. Recognizing that this action contradicted Oregon's corporate practice of medicine laws, EEP took action. They organized colleagues, contacted legislators and engaged the media. When those efforts failed, the group took legal action, filing an emergency injunction.

The beginning of the conflict

According to Bianca Jacobs, M.D., challenges arose in 2023 when PeaceHealth hospital system closed University District Hospital in Eugene. While the aging facility required substantial investment to remain operational, EEP physicians warned hospital leadership that the closure would have significant downstream consequences for patient care.

Jacobs said the EEP repeatedly cautioned PeaceHealth administrators that eliminating University District Hospital's emergency department, secure psychiatric unit and inpatient capacity would strain remaining local emergency departments. Their concerns, however, were largely dismissed.

The physicians' predictions quickly became reality. As volumes surged at remaining hospitals, EEP physicians found themselves caring for patients in hallways, former vending machine areas and other improvised treatment spaces while struggling to maintain access and quality of care.

According to Dan McGee, M.D., EEP physicians worked alongside hospital leadership to trial multiple strategies aimed at reducing wait times and managing overcrowding. Despite those efforts, conditions continued to deteriorate.

Suddenly, in late 2025, PeaceHealth announced that it would not renew the longstanding contract with Eugene Emergency Physicians. Instead, emergency department staffing would be awarded to ApolloMD, an Atlanta-based corporation.

For a physician group that had served the community for more than three decades, the decision came as a shock — and marked the beginning of a battle that would eventually draw in physicians, nurses, legislators, attorneys and the broader community.

Physicians fight back

Jacobs and McGee said that PeaceHealth expected EEP physicians to simply stay and work under the new arrangement. That assumption proved to be a major miscalculation. EEP physicians unanimously signed a pledge agreeing not to discuss employment opportunities with ApolloMD for at least 90 days following the contract transition.

As ApolloMD approached physicians one by one, offering independent contractor positions, none of the EEP physicians agreed to sign on. "I had worked for corporate practices in the past," McGee said. "I know the model, and corporate medicine can't even compete with democratic medical groups in terms of quality of care."

While not having a secure employment contract was frightening, Jacobs said that she kept reminding herself that physician jobs are in short supply. "I kept reminding myself that these companies use locums," Jacobs said. "If I don't work for them for 90 days, the job will still be there afterwards."

While acknowledging that not every physician has the financial flexibility to go months without a permanent position, relocate or travel for temporary work, Jacobs said that understanding that other opportunities existed — and that physicians still had choices — helped the group resist pressure to give in. That unity would prove to be one of the most important factors in the battle that followed.

Related content: Does independent medical practice have a future? An expert panel, featuring Rebekah Bernard, M.D.

An entire medical staff takes a stand

As news of the contract change spread throughout the hospital, support for Eugene Emergency Physicians extended far beyond the emergency department.

During the request-for-proposal process, specialists from across the medical staff had submitted letters supporting EEP, attesting to the group's clinical quality, professionalism and longstanding relationships within the hospital. When members of the medical staff learned that they had not been meaningfully consulted in the decision, frustration turned into action. At a medical staff meeting with one of the highest turnouts, the medical staff voted by approximately 93% to express "no confidence" in key leadership and by 99% to support reinstating Eugene Emergency Physicians. Hospital nurses soon followed with a similar vote of no confidence.

Despite near-unanimous opposition from the medical and nursing staff, hospital leadership did not reverse course. According to Jacobs, administrators responded by stating that they would engage in "deep internal reflection."

For many physicians, that response made one thing clear: if they hoped to save their group, they would need to continue the fight elsewhere.

Corporate practice of medicine

As soon as McGee learned that ApolloMD had been awarded the contract, he became concerned that the arrangement might violate Oregon's corporate practice of medicine law.

Like many states, Oregon does not allow nonphysicians to own medical practices. In 2024, the state strengthened protections through Senate Bill 951, legislation designed to close loopholes such as so-called "friendly physician" arrangements in which a corporation creates or partners with a physician-owned entity that appears independent on paper but is effectively controlled by nonphysician business interests.

Critics argue that such structures allow corporations to influence medical practice while avoiding legal restrictions. According to McGee, ApolloMD appeared to fit that model. "When I heard it was ApolloMD, my first thought was that this might violate Senate Bill 951," he said. "It seemed to fit the friendly physician model exactly."

At first, EEP physicians launched an extensive advocacy campaign, seeking enforcement of Oregon law. They met with local legislators, city officials, state representatives and even the governor's office. Multiple elected officials expressed support for the physicians' concerns and urged PeaceHealth to reconsider its decision.

However, McGee and his colleagues found that Senate Bill 951 provided few practical mechanisms for enforcement of the law. "We were hoping the Oregon Department of Justice could get involved," McGee recalled. "But they told us they had no jurisdiction."

After months of outreach, advocacy and unsuccessful attempts to obtain regulatory intervention, the physicians reached a sobering conclusion. If they wanted to challenge the contract takeover, they would have to do it themselves.

The only option left was legal action.

The courtroom showdown

As EEP's contract deadline approached, it became clear that PeaceHealth was moving forward and ApolloMD had no intention of backing down, even though none of the existing emergency physicians had agreed to work for the company.

"The only way EEP was going to survive was through the courts," McGee said.

The group moved quickly, assembling a legal team that included attorneys involved in drafting Oregon's corporate practice of medicine reforms, along with experienced litigators. With financial support and advice from the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM), they filed for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the proposed arrangement violated Oregon Senate Bill 951 and the state's restrictions on the corporate practice of medicine.

The plaintiffs included Eugene Emergency Physicians, emergency physician Dan McGee and an 8-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes whose family argued that the loss of experienced local physicians would negatively affect patient care.

On one side sat the local physician group represented by a small legal team. On the other sat PeaceHealth and ApolloMD, backed by a dozen attorneys from large national firms. "It felt like David versus Goliath," McGee recalled.

Yet as testimony unfolded, the momentum began to shift. Defense attorneys attempted to focus on McGee's public criticism of corporate medicine and comments he had made on social media. Instead of weakening the physicians' case, the strategy appeared to backfire. According to McGee, the judge questioned the relevance of the line of inquiry and sharply curtailed further questioning.

As the hearings continued, attention increasingly turned to ApolloMD's corporate structure and the process used to award the contract. Company representatives struggled to provide clear answers regarding organizational relationships and ownership arrangements. Meanwhile, EEP's attorneys challenged the fairness of the request-for-proposal process itself, exposing inconsistencies and raising questions about how the decision had been made.

Before the court could issue a ruling, PeaceHealth returned to the negotiating table, ultimately awarding Eugene Emergency Physicians a continued contract that McGee described as "really excellent."

The lesson from Oregon

Across the country, independent physician groups are disappearing. Hospitals, health systems and corporate entities increasingly control who delivers care, how care is delivered and what physicians can do within their own practices.

The experience of Eugene Emergency Physicians demonstrates that physicians are not powerless. EEP's success shows the value of professional relationships, physician unity, legal strategy and a willingness to accept personal and professional risk in defense of patients and the profession.

These doctors organized, advocated and litigated — and ultimately, they prevailed. Their victory is more than a local success story. It is a blueprint for physician advocacy in an era of increasing consolidation and corporate influence.

According to McGee, physicians must become engaged in health care advocacy long before a crisis arrives. He urges groups to develop robust medical staff bylaws, protect physician self-governance and advocate for strong corporate practice of medicine laws. McGee also credits the help of organized medicine, especially the AAEM, and encourages physicians to participate fully in their state and specialty medical societies.

The future of medicine can be shaped by physicians who are willing to engage, lead and stand together in defense of patient care. As the Oregon physicians demonstrated, when doctors unite around a common purpose, we can still influence the future of their profession — and take back medicine.

Rebekah Bernard, M.D., is a family physician in Fort Myers, Florida, and the author of four books on health care topics.

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Editor's note: Episode timestamps and transcript produced using AI tools.

0:00 Cold open: do physicians still have power in corporate medicine?

1:02 Meet Bianca Jacobs and Dan McGee of Eugene Emergency Physicians.

1:45 PeaceHealth closes University District Hospital over the group's warnings.

2:42 What the closure cost: lost beds and Oregon's capacity crisis.

4:20 PeaceHealth puts the contract out for bid and picks ApolloMD.

5:07 Scapegoated for emergency department wait times.

6:57 Senate Bill 951 and the "friendly physician" loophole.

8:28 The group closes ranks and signs a 90-day pledge.

11:17 More than 450 medical staff push back; physicians vote no confidence.

12:57 Nurses follow, and the fight goes to the governor, legislators and the media.

14:08 A law with no teeth: no one could enforce it.

15:57 Running out of time as job offers pile up.

17:27 The only path left is the courtroom.

18:13 Assembling the legal team and the injunction request.

19:44 Dramatic hearings and three plaintiffs, including an 8-year-old patient.

21:50 Bracing for a personal attack on cross-examination.

22:28 The "scab" posts and the judge who stopped the questioning.

27:32 Holes punched in the bid-scoring process.

27:54 PeaceHealth returns to the table and ApolloMD walks away.

28:42 No legal fees recovered, and AAEM's backing.

29:00 A call to medical societies and the advocacy playbook.

30:41 The locums leverage and refusing to roll over.

32:10 Closing advice and sign-off.