Patients in Oregon prepare for large strike at Providence.

Providence Health Care Workers Strike Looms

What could be Oregon’s largest health care workers strike is set to start Friday morning if the contract impasse with Providence and health care workers doesn’t end.

Oregon is three days away from what could be the largest health care workers strike in state history. For the first time, it would include nearly 5,000 health care workers in the Providence Health care system, including doctors, and has the potential to affect thousands of people who need medical care.

The looming strike is set to start Friday morning if the contract impasse doesn’t end.

“It’s high stakes,” said Keith Cunningham-Parmeter, a Lewis & Clark Law School professor who specializes in labor issues. “Anything could happen, but typically, workers with leverage will exercise that leverage, and the pressure’s going to keep boiling until somebody gives.”

Cunningham-Parmeter said the fact that doctors are now part of a union and willing to strike to improve working conditions and patient care is a really big change.

“They used to be that sort of identity of noble caregiver, and I think more and more doctors are seeing themselves as just another cog in a bloated health care system — and these doctors have said ‘enough,'” he explained.

“The term ‘burnout’ was first used in the 1970s, so we’ve known about this for about 50 years or so,” added Carolyn Zook, a Lewis & Clark Law School health studies instructor. “I think we’re really at a pinch point where physicians and nurses and other health care providers are saying, ‘You have to listen to us.’ They have the patients’ best interest in mind.”

But a strike this size would have a huge impact — at least in the short term — on people expecting medical care in the Providence system. On Monday, Providence warned the Oregon Health Authority that it will create a “significant risk” for health care in Oregon because bringing in replacement doctors is hard to do.

This comes after insurance company Aetna and Providence failed to reach a new contract agreement before the Jan. 1 deadline.

Prepare for the Impact

Carolyn Zook, who has a lot of experience in the state’s health care world, agreed that the risk is high.

“Yeah, it’s really going to have an impact on the patients and patient care,” she said, but added that there are steps patients can do now to prepare for a strike to come, such as to start thinking about checking your insurance now before there’s a true emergency — maybe checking if there are urgent care facilities nearby that are covered by your insurance.

The largest impact will be on the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center campus, Providence said Monday, also announcing that the hospital system will start capping the number of patients admitted to Providence St. Vincent. There will also be an impact communitywide on obstetric services at St. Vincent and Providence Women’s Clinics.

Zook said if you have appointments or procedures set with Providence, call in and ask questions. If it is not urgent, you may reset for later, or maybe your insurance will let you go elsewhere, depending on your situation.

But Zook said one thing Oregonians can all do is be informed and try to stay healthy, following “standard public health practices, like washing our hands, staying home if we’re not feeling well, if we’re able to.”

Of course, there is still time to settle before a strike, and Cunningham-Parmeter, who has seen a lot of negotiations, thinks it’s more likely that they will.

“I think that it might reach the 11th hour, but there’s just too much at stake both for the doctors and the hospitals,” Cunningham-Parmeter said.

Impacted Locations and Previous Strikes

If the Providence strike takes place, it would be the second strike of its magnitude to occur within a year after June’s strike, which involved more than 3,000 nurses at six Providence hospitals in Oregon. This time, affected locations include:

• Providence Portland Medical Center
• Providence Seaside Hospital
• Providence St. Vincent Medical Center
• Providence Women’s Clinic
• Providence Milwaukie Hospital
• Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center
• Providence Medford Medical Center
• Providence Newberg Medical Center
• Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital

The Providence strike and Aetna rift comes after Salem Health became out-of-network for Regence members, as of Jan. 1, 2025, when both sides were unable to agree on a new contract for 2025.

Resources for Patients

Zook provided some resources from “An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back,” by Elisabeth Rosenthal.

Price calculators for procedures:

• Healthcare Bluebook: One of the oldest and most extensive of the medical pricing sites
• Fair Health: National database of insurance claims to provide a picture of the range of physician charges for medical encounters
• Medibib: For high deductible plans

Price calculators for prescription drugs:

Tools for vetting hospitals:

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