OHSU witnesses describe Knight Cancer Group plan; committee moves HB 4179 to the floor
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Summary
OHSU leaders told the House Rules committee HB 4179 would allow creation of a Knight Cancer Group 501(c)(3) with OHSU as corporate member to integrate cancer care and ensure tort-claim coverage; the committee later moved the bill to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation.
During a public hearing on House Bill 4179, OHSU witnesses described a proposed Knight Cancer Group, a physician practice 501(c)(3) with OHSU as corporate member intended to expand integrated diagnostics, clinical trials and patient navigation services.
Dr. Brian Druker, chief executive of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, described the group as a fully integrated care model that would give every patient a navigator and a broad range of support services; he said the statutory changes in HB 4179 provide legal certainty needed to recruit clinicians and offer a single coordinated care model.
Alice Caprell Comas, general counsel for OHSU, explained the bill makes three changes to ORS 353.117 to allow entities organized under chapter 65 to be treated as entities created or maintained by OHSU when the university is a corporate member, clarifies coverage under the Oregon Tort Claims Act and states the arrangement would not create a corporate practice-of-medicine problem beyond existing public statutes.
Committee members asked about employee status and collective-bargaining implications under PECMA and PERS; OHSU counsel said the current statutory definition of "public employer" (citing ORS 243.650) would continue to apply and that the bill does not remove public-employer obligations. In the subsequent work session the committee voted to move HB 4179 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation and assigned Vice Chair Pham as carrier.