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Nathanson proposes urgent-care registry and minimum standards to help patients navigate care; providers raise regulatory concerns
Summary
Representative Nathanson’s House Bill 3221 would define “urgent care,” create a registry and require minimum service transparency. Supporters said the measure would reduce emergency department pressure; hospitals, urgent-care operators and some providers warned the draft could restrict access and urged further amendment.
Representative Nancy Nathanson opened an informational hearing on House Bill 3221, a bill she described as designed to create transparency and set minimum expectations for clinics that market themselves as “urgent care.”
Nathanson said urgent care clinics play an increasingly important role as primary- and same-day care access has become limited in parts of Oregon. She told the committee that, in a local sample, researchers identified 14 locations calling themselves urgent care but found variation in whether they took walk-ins, whether they accepted different payers and whether they offered imaging and lab services. "People should be able to see easily where urgent care is available, what type of clinicians are there," she said.
Supporters from health departments, physician groups and local leaders — including Lane County Director of Health and Human Services Eve Gray and representatives from the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians — said a registry and clear definition would help consumers and referral services guide patients to the right level of care and could reduce unnecessary emergency department visits.
Hospital systems and urgent-care operators raised concerns about the bill’s current language. Providence testified that while it supported transparency goals, the bill’s definition could sweep immediate-care and express-care clinics into the urgent-care classification and impose requirements that would change how those clinics are operated and paid. Zoom Care and the Hospital Association of Oregon said a simple, searchable registry might meet many of the sponsor’s goals but cautioned that new minimum-service licensing requirements could reduce access in some communities and asked for additional stakeholder work to narrow the proposal.
The committee heard extensive testimony and follow-up questions about whether the registry should live at the Oregon Health Authority, whether a registry would be effective for consumers, and whether title protection or minimum-service standards would inadvertently narrow providers. The hearing closed after representatives of hospitals, associations and local public health described both the potential consumer benefits and the practical concerns about implementation and enforcement. No vote was recorded.
