“When a public health department offers $27.30 an hour, they think we must have missed a digit.” Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role public health officials play in Oregon. But a new report released this week says the state’s 32 county-based health agencies are facing a staffing crisis.
The study found Oregon’s licensing system makes it difficult for nurses from other states to come here to work.
An even bigger problem: Public agencies have to compete directly with private health care providers who can pay their employees much more. Starting pay for nurses, for example, is less than $30 an hour at public health agencies, a fraction of what they can make at hospitals.
“Nurses can go to the hospital ICU and can make $100 per hour,” Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, Douglas County health officer, said in a statement. “When a public health department offers $27.30 an hour, they think we must have missed a digit.”
SCL Health, Intermountain Healthcare complete merger
The combined not-for-profit system will employ more than 59,000 caregivers. Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare and Colorado-based SCL Health have completed their merger, the two companies announced Tuesday.
The new organization, named Intermountain Healthcare, is headquartered in Salt Lake City with regional offices in Broomfield and Las Vegas.
The combined not-for-profit system employs more than 59,000 caregivers and operates 33 hospitals and 385 clinics. Intermountain Healthcare will operate in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas.
Mike Leavitt will serve as the new Board Chair for the combined organization, now the 11th largest nonprofit health system in the United States.
The medical facilities along the Front Range that had been operated under the SCL Health banner include St. Joseph Hospital, Lutheran Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, and Platte Valley Medical Center.
Plans for the merger were first announced in September 2021.
"With this merger, we’ll create a model for the future of healthcare that focuses on keeping people healthy and proactively addresses causes of illness through high-quality, affordable, and accessible care to more patients," said Intermountain Healthcare President and CEO Marc Harrison, M.D. "The merger provides a model for healthcare for the rest of the country."
Founded in 1864 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, SCL Health is a Catholic organization that has operated in Colorado, Montana and Kansas. SCL Health’s Catholic hospitals will retain their distinctive Catholic names and continue to operate according to existing practices, said Intermountain Healthcare.
A secular organization founded in Salt Lake City in 1975, Intermountain Healthcare has operated in Utah, Idaho and Nevada.
"We’re pleased with how our organizations have come together," said Executive Sponsor Lydia Jumonville. "Our work is well underway, and we are being very thoughtful about moving the best of our systems forward to continue providing the highest quality of care in the communities we serve. We will advance our mission and better serve the entire region together."
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