Провиденс денсаулық сақтау жүйесі: тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Healthcare system operating multiple hospitals across seven states, headquarters in Renton

Providence Health & Services is a not for profit Catholic health care system operating multiple hospitals and medical clinics across seven states, with headquarters in Renton, Washington. The health system includes 51 hospitals, more than 800 non acute facilities, and numerous assisted living facilities in the western half of the United States (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, New Mexico, and Texas). Providence Health & Services was founded by the Sisters of Providence in 1859 and merged with St. Joseph Health in 2016.

Providence Health System was established by the Sisters of Providence, a community of Roman Catholic sisters founded in Montreal, Quebec in the 1850s, who established a mission at Fort Vancouver and a hospital in Portland, Oregon. The Sisters later established several schools and hospitals in Washington, Montana, Oregon, Alaska, British Columbia, and California. Dominican Network, a network of hospitals in Washington State, joined Providence Services in 1993. In 2012, Providence acquired Swedish Health Services in Seattle, Washington, promoting Rod Hochman from C. E. O. of Swedish to President and C. E. O. of Providence in 2013. In 2014, Providence entered a similar partnership with Pacific Medical Centers, which joined Swedish as part of Providence's Western HealthConnect division. In 2016, Providence merged with California based St. Joseph Health create Providence St. Joseph Health. In 2019, plans were announced to rebrand assets under the Providence brand, and in 2020, Health Management Resources was acquired from Merck & Co., Inc. In January 2020, COVID 19 emerged as a public health threat on the U. S. West Coast, comprising half of the nation's cases. Providence St. Joseph responded quickly by constructing temporary facilities, and became the first U. S. health system to treat a patient with COVID 19 in Washington state.

St. Joseph Medical Center
St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center

In 2020, a Portland, Oregon area physician assistant who had been barred from seeing female patients of child bearing age because she refused to offer them contraceptive care went on to refuse to provide a "young" patient with emergency contraception. She was terminated after further refusing to agree to refer patients to other providers for those services which she did not wish to offer herself. Her refusals to provide care were based on her chosen interpretation of Catholicism. Providence Medical Group did not respond to request to the Catholic News Agency's request for comment. According to a New York Times investigation of multiple health systems published during May 2020, Providence obtained more than half of a billion in government funds which were intended to keep health care providers afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, Providence Health System had nearly $12 billion in cash reserves. By making investments with that fund, it generated approximately $1 billion in revenue per year. The American Hospital Association responded to the article, citing pandemic related losses as high as $350 million per health system per month. A second Times investigation found that Providence had instituted a program created by McKinsey & Company to request payments from patients to cover the cost of care left over following Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Hospital staff were reportedly instructed to negotiate payment plans, informing patients about financial assistance as a final option. Those who did not pay were sent to debt collection, a practice for which the Attorney General of Washington filed suit, alleging that they were in violation of state laws which entitled low income patents to care with no copay. Providence countered the lawsuit, but stated they would stop using debt collectors and that they would refund 760 patients and work with credit agencies to “reverse any negative impact on credit.”

On February 1, 2024, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that Providence "must forgive more than $137 million in medical debt and refund more than $20 million to patients the company billed for services despite knowing they likely qualified for free or reduced cost health care. The $157.8 million resolution will provide full refunds, plus interest, and debt forgiveness for 99,446 individuals. It is the largest resolution of its kind in the country." On April 18, 2024, a King County Superior Court Judge ruled that Providence willfully underpaid over 33,000 hourly employees between September 2018 and May 2023. Providence was ordered to pay a total of approximately $220 million to the impacted employees. In a statement concerning the lawsuit, Providence stated their intention to appeal the ruling.