The Oregon Nurses Association challenged Asante’s financial claims at a packed public meeting in Medford on Oct. 1, accusing the health system of failing to live up to its nonprofit mission.
The meeting came amid stalled contract negotiations at Rogue Regional Medical Center and service cuts across the health system. Asante is advertising for replacement workers in case of a strike.
“Asante says that they're broke, but are they?” ONA spokesperson Kevin Mealy said. “We are here tonight to dispute that claim.”
Mealy said Asante was Oregon’s most profitable hospital system between 2013 and 2023. A slide presented by the union said Asante made $135 million surplus in 2025.
Asante has cited regulations and low reimbursement rates as reasons for cutting services. This year, it closed Ashland Community Hospital’s birthing center and inpatient services. While historically profitable, state records show Ashland Community Hospital lost more than $6 million dollars in 2026.
In May, Asante CEO Tom Gessel said the health system could face a $50 million budget shortfall in 2027 without changes, including hundreds of job cuts.
Mealy also criticized Asante’s medical debt collection practices. A study of Oregon debt collection lawsuits found that about one in 10 medical debt cases reviewed were filed by or on behalf of Asante. The finding came from a sample of court cases from 2019 through 2023.
Asante’s share was twice that of St. Charles, the next individual medical provider listed in the study.
Asante also fired nine neonatal intensive care specialists this year, a change the union said affected care in the region.
Asante spent millions of dollars to purchase the Surgery Center of Southern Oregon facility before closing the center after scrutiny from Oregon Health Authority regulators.
Asante leadership has declined interview requests and barred local media from community roundtable discussions.
“What is happening here is a litmus test for the rest of the state,” Mealy said. “This hospital is being watched by every CEO, by every hospital in the state of Oregon.”
