PeaceHealth, Eugene Emergency Physicians strike deal to keep local doctors in place

Lane County patients were less likely to face a sudden shakeup in emergency care after PeaceHealth and Eugene Emergency Physicians struck a preliminary extension that keeps local doctors in place while the two sides work out a fuller contract.

The deal, signed Tuesday night and discussed Wednesday in Portland federal court, would keep Eugene Emergency Physicians staffing PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and PeaceHealth Cottage Grove Medical Center for at least three years, and Peace Harbor in Florence for one year. ApolloMD and Lane Emergency Physicians were excluded from the extension, and the lawsuit was paused for 14 days so the parties can finalize the remaining details.

That matters most at RiverBend, a 388-bed regional hospital with 24/7 emergency care and the entrance to Sacred Heart’s ACS-verified Level II trauma center. RiverBend is the only Level II trauma center between Corvallis and the California border, which is why any staffing change there drew intense concern from doctors, lawmakers and patients across the region.

Eugene Emergency Physicians has staffed PeaceHealth’s Lane County emergency departments for about 35 years. The preliminary agreement preserves that long-running local arrangement, at least for now, after months of conflict over PeaceHealth’s plan to shift emergency coverage away from the independent physician group.

The dispute began in Lane County Circuit Court in March before moving to federal court. It has since become a test case for Oregon’s 2025 Senate Bill 951, the state’s corporate-practice-of-medicine law, which lawmakers said was meant to protect patient-centered medical care from corporate control.

The staffing fight also drew attention from U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Rep. Val Hoyle, who urged PeaceHealth to work transparently with physicians, staff and the community. Their concern focused on the risk that rapid staffing changes could affect patient care, workforce retention and how smoothly emergency departments operate.

From PeaceHealth’s side, the preliminary extension is meant to lead to performance benchmarks, monthly reviews and a more collaborative model centered on patient care and steadier emergency-room flow. For Lane County, the immediate result is continuity at RiverBend, Cottage Grove and Florence while the broader legal and policy fight over who controls emergency medicine continues in the background.