Tracy Sweely of Coos Bay loves to ski. In winter, she usually spends much of her time in Bend, more than four hours to the east, using the area’s cross-country trails. That wasn't the case this year.
“I didn't ski at all this winter because we were working every day for multiple hours,” Sweely said. “We were working on trying to stop this Quorum deal from going through.”
The deal she referred to would have allowed Tennessee-based Quorum Health to operate Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay. In 2024, the hospital’s board signed a nonbinding letter of intent to negotiate with the private equity-owned company.
The letter was met with backlash from residents who said they were afraid of losing local control over the 172-bed facility, the only major health care facility on the Southern Oregon coast.
Sweely and her mother helped lead a grassroots campaign to oppose the takeover. They worried that Quorum would shutter Bay Area Hospital if it continued to lose money, as the company has done with other struggling rural hospitals.
“A group of concerned citizens just kind of gravitated together,” Sweely said. “We started meeting once a week, and we just decided that we were not going to let it happen.”
The group sent letters to officials, wrote op-eds in the local paper and supported four candidates opposed to the deal in the hospital district board election. Those candidates, with additional support from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, won their races.
Last week, Bay Area Hospital announced it had ended its letter of intent with Quorum.
“When we saw that the Quorum deal had ended, it was just the best feeling because we have worked so hard,” Sweely said.
The end of negotiations came amid leadership changes at the hospital. Besides new board members, CEO Brian Moore resigned last month. Kelly Morgan, former president of Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, was appointed interim CEO.
Although residents like Sweely are celebrating, the hospital's future remains uncertain.
Bay Area Hospital must repay a $47 million loan from the Bank of Montreal, on which it defaulted in March. A state bill that would have provided $10 million to the hospital failed during this year's legislative session.
And like other health care facilities, the Bay Area Hospital is preparing for federal cuts to Medicaid, which are expected to disproportionately impact rural areas, such as Coos Bay.
