PeaceHealth Oregon’s top executive, who was placed on administrative leave last week, has now been ordered by a federal judge to testify in a lawsuit against the hospital system.

Dr. Jim McGovern was placed on leave last Thursday over medical staff concerns that he violated the scope of his administrative license by dictating patient care without an Oregon medical license. He’s been in the chief hospital executive position since 2024.

The lawsuit, first filed by Eugene Emergency Physicians (EEP) in Lane County Circuit Court in March, has now been moved to federal court.

The lawsuit seeks to block PeaceHealth from hiring an Atlanta-based company, ApolloMD, to staff emergency rooms in three Lane County hospitals. EEP is asking the court to prevent PeaceHealth from ending its 35-year contract for emergency services until the case is resolved.

Plaintiffs will ask the court to find for the following:

• Preserve the status quo with Eugene Emergency Physicians until Peacehealth “will be able to legally provide adequate emergency medical services to the community and will not put the community at risk.”
• Prohibit ApolloMD and its companies from violating Oregon Oregon’s prohibitions on the corporate practice of medicine and from conducting business illegally in the state.
• Dissolve Lane Emergency Physicians, a “front organization for ApolloMD’s illegal foreign and corporate practice of medicine—or, in the alternative, bar LEP from conducting business in Oregon.”

KLCC reached out to PeaceHealth Oregon and the response was as follows: “Based on a pending personnel matter and pending litigation, respectively, we are going to decline to comment.”

McGovern is expected to testify in federal court in late April.

Tiffany Eckert is a reporter with KLCC. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/15/peace-health-hospital-klcc-peacehealth-dr-jim-mcgovern/