The Service Employees International Union and a cadre of 13 civil liberties and pro-choice organizations are asking the Oregon Attorney General to carefully examine the proposed merger of two Catholic health systems: Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services and Irvine, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health System, according to the Portland Business Journal.
The two health systems have requested a waiver from Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum from the standard review process.
The SEIU, the nation's largest nurses union, and the 13 other organizations, led by the National Health Law Program and ACLU of Oregon, have written in opposition to the waiver, citing concerns over the merger's potential impacts on access to certain healthcare services, as well as possibly higher prices. In particular, the groups are worried the merger would restrict or reduce reproductive, women's health and end-of-life care due adherence to the Catholic doctrine.
"As a merged hospital system, we are concerned that market concentration and reduced healthcare services due to religious restrictions may create barriers to access," SEIU Local 49 President Meg Niemi wrote in a letter to Attorney General Rosenblum, according to the report.
Providence Health & Service's already large market share has driven concerns regarding the potential increase in prices of healthcare services if a merger with St. Joseph Health System is approved. Providence owns and operates eight hospitals in Oregon, more than any other health system in the state. It manages nearly 20 percent of the state's acute care hospital beds, SEIU told the Portland Business Journal. St. Joseph has 16 hospitals in California, Texas and New Mexico.
"Yet it is unclear how the benefits of such power and any achieved efficiencies will be achieved," Ms. Niemi wrote, according to the report. "Not only are we unsure where the benefits of the consolidation will be reaped, we are concerned that St. Joseph's higher prices could creep into Oregon hospital operations."
Susan Berke Fogel, director of reproductive health for the National Health Law Program, has requested an independent healthcare impact statement regarding the merger.
In a statement, Providence said the two systems have proposed to merge to "increase and improve services" and reduced access will not be a result. The statement says: "Both health systems are Catholic and have long-standing histories of serving their communities, especially for those most in need. Our goal in coming together is to address significant social and health needs, such as access to care. These problems exist at a very large scale and we want to solve these problems on the scale at which they exist."