April 25, 2025 (Portland, Ore.) - Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) appealed to the OHSU Board of Directors during the board’s public session today. They asked the board to pressure OHSU management into settling a contract with the APPs who have been in negotiations for almost a year. The APPs are asking for recognition for their roles in improving patient care and access to care, a compensation system that reflects the complexity and diversity of their positions, the agency to discuss productivity goals and expectations with management, and the time and financial support to pursue educational and faculty advancement opportunities.

 

Following the board’s public session, more than 150 APPs and their allies rallied outside the Robertson Life Sciences Building to explain their concerns. 

 

“I’m proud to be an APP and I’m proud of the work I’ve done at OHSU. However, the direction of clinical care at OHSU is rapidly heading in an unsustainable direction. And in many ways is already in crisis. Practicing family medicine is increasingly challenging and as apps we’re expected to manage a wide range of conditions, from acute and chronic illnesses to mental health conditions and social needs all within 20-minute visits,” said Jenny Mitchell, physician associate and assistant professor at OHSU. “Wait times for patients to access primary care continue to grow and as wait times increase, so does the acuity of patients.”

 

The APPs are advocating for core principles that reflect the values and mission of the institution which include:

Quality Patient Care - Patients deserve timely, thorough, and expert care. Protecting time for meaningful clinical decision-making, care coordination, and follow-up is essential to delivering the level of care for which OHSU is known.

Balanced Work - Healthy providers create healthy patients. Sustainable workloads are vital to ensuring safe, high-quality care.

Fair Pay - Competitive, equitable compensation is necessary to retain and attract the dedicated clinicians who uphold OHSU’s standards of excellence.

Academic Mission - Teaching the next generation of providers must be recognized and supported. Our commitment to education is part of what sets OHSU apart.

 

“It is time that OHSU realizes that we came together as clinicians to create a union because the channels that existed were not in service to the APPs at OHSU. They did not recognize our clinical excellence, our expertise and education, our desire for representation at the highest levels of administration. They did not understand the value of our service to this institution, as educators, as clinicians, as healers,” said Laurel Hallock-Koppelman, family nurse practitioner and an associate professor of medicine at OHSU. “They did not understand our desire to make sure patient safety is paramount while also recognizing that the careers we have chosen are indeed essential to the functions of this machine that is OHSU.”

 

OHSU employs more than 600 advanced practice providers (APP) working across the system. They work at OHSU locations across the state including Portland, Eugene, The Dalles and Klamath Falls and include nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician associates serving as faculty and caring for patients in areas such as family practice, cardiology and oncology.