Oregon Health Forum
http://www.healthforum.org/july99.html


PeaceHealth spends $62,000 on Japan trip; closes Prenatal Clinic

The recent closing of a clinic for low-income pregnant women in
Eugene highlights ongoing tensions between physicians and
midwives.

In early July, PeaceHealth, which operates Sacred Heart Medical
Center, closed the Prenatal Clinic, a small, two-storey
facility that, since 1987, had offered prenatal and postpartum
care to low-income, largely Hispanic women in a homey setting.
The services are now located in a traditional clinic near the
hospital's main medical campus. PeaceHealth also eliminated
two full-time midwives. Hospital officials said the decision
was economic.

"We moved to a clinic that has a broader range of services,"
said Beverly Mayhew, regional director of public affairs. 
"It was more cost-efficient to consolidate services instead
of having them divided."

In September four high-ranking PeaceHealth officials, including
Chief Executive Officer Curt Roberts and Chief Operating Officer
Alan Yordy, travel to Japan, at a cost of $62,000, to
participate in training and corporate improvement programs. . .
Mayhew said [the trip] is "entirely unrelated" to the budgetary
decision to close the Prenatal Clinic.