079 Salem Health - Santiam: Emergency Exemption

On July 3, 2026, Salem Health and Santiam Hospital & Clinics submitted a request to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) seeking an emergency exemption from Health Care Market Oversight (HCMO) review for their proposed affiliation. OHA granted the emergency exemption on July 31, 2026. Because the transaction is exempt from HCMO review, OHA has no authority to impose conditions on the transaction or conduct follow-up reviews. Prior to the emergency exemption request, OHA had accepted a complete notice of material change transaction on April 16, 2026, and commenced a preliminary HCMO review. OHA escalated to a comprehensive HCMO review on May 5, 2026. The parties withdrew the notice of material change transaction on July 3, 2026, the same date they filed the emergency exemption request, which ended the comprehensive review. OHA issued a July 17, 2026 request for information and received a response from the parties on July 23, 2026, updated August 5, 2026. OHA also accepted public comments related to the emergency exemption during a comment period running July 24 through July 31, 2026, with additional comments received after that period.