💉 Checking the Pulse 04/29/26

Corporate practice of medicine: Last week, I reported on Skagit Regional Health’s decision not to renew its hospitalist contract with Sound Physicians and bring in Vituity, a California group. Although Sound Physicians lost the contract, that group is important to understand, given its ongoing role in the region, including at PeaceHealth, and especially because of the corporate practice of medicine battle PeaceHealth has kicked up in Oregon. As a reminder, Sound Physicians is a for-profit national labor management company that is part-owned by UnitedHealth’s OptumHealth and Summit Partners, a private equity firm. The group is a contractor with PeaceHealth, and currently staffs about 30 hospitalists at PeaceHealth St. Joseph.

In Oregon, PeaceHealth was in federal court this week over allegations that the hospital violated the state’s new corporate practice of medicine law, which, among other goals, aims to prevent private equity ownership of medical practices. The ongoing legal battle between PeaceHealth and Oregon physicians is considered a potential landmark case with national ramifications for other states considering similar legislation — including Washington.

A bill this past session stalled in Olympia, but not before Sound Physicians testified against its passage. While its opposition may seem obvious, given that the group is, again, part-owned by UnitedHealth and a private equity firm, what's noteworthy is who Sound Physicians chose to testify against the legislation: Dr. Erika Walker, a Sound Physicians employee who has been the medical director of hospitalist services at PeaceHealth St. Joseph since the fall. You can see the report of who testified for and against the legislation here or watch the lengthy hearing here.

If you haven’t heard, PeaceHealth has a new food vendor at its hospitals. After a month of new offerings, patients and staff alike are underwhelmed, to say the least. Plus, in a large business that is often accused of being opaque, every move, change or word is scrutinized by community members as a potential sign of larger unsaid messages. In this case, with claims from staff that the food is, in some cases, over 25% more expensive for lower quality, some are wondering why higher costs are being placed on staff and patients. So, what’s changed?

An employee and a patient both said patient options have been limited. One patient told CDN there are limited healthy options for kids and a plethora of spicy and greasy foods. The new contract with Compass Healthcare, which began on April 1, is part of the hospital’s often-repeated “One PeaceHealth” mission, according to a staff email sent by the hospital’s northwest chief operating officer, Elliot Kuida.

Kuida continued: “Compass Healthcare will bring our patients tasty and healthy menu offerings. Our patient dining program is designed to support the health and healing of our patients during their hospital stay. In addition to providing nourishing meals for our patients, Compass Healthcare will also manage our cafeterias and catering and will offer our caregivers and guests a wide-ranging menu of meal and snack options.”

Maybe the new service is just off to a rough start. Get in touch if you experience the food as a patient, employee or visitor.

As you’ll recall, a significant piece of PeaceHealth property that includes the old St. Luke’s Hospital in Bellingham is currently for sale. The real estate group selling the property, JLL, has received “various offers” according to one of the brokers. JLL declined to share the names of the parties involved or confirm reports that Western Washington University made an offer.

In a written statement to CDN, Western’s senior director of university communications, John Thompson, said: “While the university is always exploring ways to fulfill its mission to the state and has done some work in an evaluation of that site for its long-term goals, it would be premature to comment on potential real estate transactions. These matters often involve multiple parties and require confidentiality to ensure a fair and orderly process.”

No, at least not here. Plus, is anything — actually — free? If you’re one of the people who’ve asked me if I get any form of free or discounted health care because of my job as a health reporter, well … the answer is in episode four of CDN's new podcast.

Fear not, I will continue using the two-word spelling of “health care.” CDN, like most news organizations, mostly follows AP Style in its entirety, but makes a few newsroom-specific style decisions. The AP Stylebook recently changed “health care” to one word, without a hyphen. At CDN, health care is two words, no hyphen.

Lookout Eugene-Springfield: New emails obtained by the Oregon outlet show PeaceHealth’s top Oregon executive — who is currently on administrative leave and will soon testify before a federal judge — remotely opened patient charts and questioned doctors’ decisions to the point they doubted his commitment to patient care.

KFF Health News: Elisabeth Rosenthal is one of those writers who, for me, when they write something, you stop what you’re doing to read it. Her latest, A ‘Barbaric’ Problem in American Hospitals Is Only Getting Bigger, is a must-read.

STAT: Doctors in Utah are pushing back after a noteworthy trial of artificial intelligence in medicine raised concerns after a test of prescription renewal.

The New Yorker: Sources of mine who work in health care often request anonymity. You may wonder why it is granted. Writing in The New Yorker magazine, a lawyer explains the importance of anonymous sources in the face of FBI director Kash Patel’s defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic.