EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon Nurses Association has a petition out for PeaceHealth to restore its contract with Eugene Emergency Physicians instead of opting to work with out-of-state staffing group ApolloMD.

PeaceHealth announced the decision last week that would mean 41 emergency physicians and physician assistants at Riverbend and Cottage Grove would be let go at the end of their current contracts.

In an interview with PeaceHealth last week, the hospital said it hoped those physicians would stay on by applying to the new group.

KVAL -{ }ONA urges PeaceHealth to avoid ‘costly mistake’ of dropping Eugene Emergency Physicians

“ApolloMD is our partner who’s gonna be joining PeaceHealth to provide services at all three campuses in Lane County, and we would welcome them to work with our excellent physicians who are already in the community,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kim Ruscher said. “I hope that a lot of these doctors wind up staying, but that is ultimately between them as physicians and ApolloMD as the group.”

However, the physicians aren’t interested in signing contracts with ApolloMD, with all 41 signing a pledge not to return, according to ONA.

ONA said PeaceHealth now faces a challenge to find skilled ER providers, after ending its decades long relationship with Eugene Emergency Physicians.

“There’s a shortage of health care providers nationally — of doctors of nurses — and, so, finding replacements, even ApolloMD would struggle. You’re getting folks with a revolving door who would be here for a few months and then gone, and that’s even if they could get those folks. It’s not easy to get. It doesn’t make financial sense. It certainly doesn’t make sense for patients,” ONA spokesman Kevin Mealy said.

Aaron Hougham, who left PeaceHealth in December of last year after 10 years as an emergency physician, said the physicians in the ER have had to overcome many challenges of their own over the last two years, since the closure of the University District hospital.

“There wasn’t really a plan in place to handle that surge of patients to another facility,” Hougham said. “It’s been routine the last couple years to see patients in hallways, in closets, and have patients that need to go into the hospital and upstairs sometimes wait for days in the emergency department. It’s made it difficult for wait times. It’s made it difficult to care for patients.”

It’s those emergency physicians, he said, who tried to implement ways to improve service times in the ER, because they too live in the community and care about the quality of care residents receive.

Hougham said he’s now speaking up for his colleagues who can’t due to non-disparagement agreements.

“These providers don’t want to work for an out-of-state corporation. They don’t want to re-apply for their job. And they don’t want to work for a company that’s known for cutting and squeezing an already incredibly difficult environment,” he said.

The ONA petition can be found here.

PeaceHealth did not immediately respond Thursday for a request for comment on local physicians refusing to sign with ApolloMD.