
BAY AREA HOSPITAL
is at risk!
Proposed Sale of Bay Area Hospital Could Leave You without Care
Would you want to drive to Eugene for basic healthcare? What about in an emergency?
The board of Bay Area Hospital is looking to sell your community's hospital to private equity-owned Quorum Health. Quorum Health is not in the business of running hospitals; they gut and shut down rural hospitals for profit.
38
Hospitals
When Quorum was spun off from CHS in 2016, they had 38 hospitals. Today, they only operate 12.

"Quorum, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, has collected $84.8 million in net proceeds from its divestitures, and it plans to collect another $165-215 million in divestiture proceeds by the end of next year, having already signed letters of intent to divest seven more facilities, the company said."
Quorum Health has sold or closed 10 hospitals since it spun off from Community Health Systems, with 38 hospitals, two years ago.

[SOURCE] Published May 10, 2018
Quorum Leaves Communities without Health Care and Jobs
Closure of Illinois's MetroSouth Medical Center offers an ominous glimpse at what could happen to Bay Area Hospital under Quorum ownership.
MetroSouth used to be the largest employer in Blue Island, serving tens of thousands of residents.
"I know they don't have a buyer yet and it's really a shame because a lot of people depend on the services that they provide," MetroSouth patient Kathleen Murray said.
Last week, the facility stopped accepting new patients, which some officials called a "calculated tactic" to force the Blue Island hospital into closure.
[SOURCE] Published September 30, 2019
“Quorum Health manufactured its own staffing crisis as a result of not extending physician contracts and making clear that workers had little to no future at the hospital."
Anne Igoe,
Vice-President,
Health Systems Division at SEIU HCII
[SOURCE] Published September 20, 2019
Ransacking your Healthcare
How Private Equity Companies like Quorum Pillage Community Hospitals
The con is simple:
Step 1: Buy a struggling hospital.
Step 2: Take out a massive loan or sell the hospital's real estate to "fund" the hospital.
Step 3: Pay shareholders with that money instead of funding the hospital.
Step 4: Cut basic services like maternity wards, senior care, or trauma centers.
Step 5: Close the debt-ridden hospital or sell it to another company to do the same.
Recent Bipartisan Senate Report Confirms Private Equity Reduces Patient Care while Enriching Investors
“As our investigation revealed, these financial entities are putting their own profits over patients, leading to health and safety violations, chronic understaffing, and hospital closures. Private equity investors have pocketed millions while driving hospitals into the ground and then selling them off, leaving towns and communities to pick up the pieces.”
- Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
"The findings reinforced academic research showing how private equity health care investments harm patients while enriching investors."
"... rather than investing in hospital operations to benefit patients, the owners induced the company to issue new debt, using proceeds to pay dividends to themselves."

[SOURCE] Published January 8, 2025
Quorum Preys on Rural Communities like Coos Bay.
Martin General Hospital in rural Williamston, North Carolina abruptly shut its doors in August 2023.
“Quorum Healthcare was operating the hospital at the time,” [Mayor] McCall said. “On August 3rd at 8:30 a.m., they came in, had a meeting with the staff there and let us know they were filing bankruptcy and shutting down the hospital. They literally closed off the entrances and the emergency department at 10 a.m.”
Torn signs and chained entrances now notify people that care is unavailable. The hospital’s website points patients toward ECU Beaufort, 22 miles south.
[SOURCE] Published 2024
Quorum is not a healthcare company.
A lawsuit brought by the New Mexico Attorney General against Alta Vista Hospital reveals "health care" practices at a typical Quorum hospital.
According to the lawsuit, Quorum:
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Stopped providing OB-GYN services while continuing to advertise them
"The hospital continued to advertise obstetrics and gynecology services through June, even though its only doctor qualified to provide those services died in May. Instead of rehiring for the position, the hospital stopped providing those services altogether, the suit alleges. 'This closure results in there being no proper prenatal or OB care in northeastern New Mexico,' the suit says."
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Illegally over-charges patients
"It cites complaints from patients about exorbitant charges, including one instance in which a bill for 1.5 hours of “non-admission” medical care exceeded $40,000. The hospital also has “routinely charged $1,200 for a service where the co-pay should have been $400,” according to the complaint.
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Ran the hospital without oversight
"The hospital also is operating without proper oversight after its Medical Executive Committee resigned en masse in November 2021 'as a direct result of the manner in which [the hospital] continues to operate,' according to the suit."
The New Mexico Health Department also reported numerous health violations, including:
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“Visible stained floors not swept or mopped, per a staff member due to not having consistent housekeeping for the past six months."
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"Urine in a utility room sink and dry bloodstains on a countertop near where supplies are stored."
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"Expired medical supplies — including syringes, needles and gloves — were in a supply area of an operating room."
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"Blood on the walls of the emergency room, trash piled up around the facility, dirt on the floor and a failure to clean for COVID-19"

[SOURCE] Published December 9, 2022
Quorum settled the lawsuit for $400,000.

It's not too late to save Bay Area Hospital!
We're calling on the Oregon Health Authority to block the sale of BAH to Quorum Health.