Additional resources

Press releases

Read more about the work the hospital association is doing on behalf of Oregon’s hospitals.

In My View

In a series of regular columns, Hospital Association of Oregon President and CEO Becky Hultberg shares her view on how Oregon hospitals are making a difference in the communities they serve.

Publications and insights

Using the data provided by our affiliate organization, Apprise Health Insights, the Hospital Association of Oregon continues to produce valuable reports highlighting the financial health of Oregon’s hospitals as well as health care workforce and patient care trends. 

Resources for members

Programs and initiatives

Workplace safety initiative

Learn more about the Hospital Association of Oregon’s 2024 policy priorities.

Protecting access to health care in Oregon

Media contacts

The Hospital Association of Oregon communications team is available to assist with arranging interviews and providing information.

Lisa Goodman

Vice president of communications

541.241.0467

Becca Thomsen

Director of communications

713-213-8838

OHPAC

The Oregon Hospital Political Action Committee (OHPAC) is the political voice for Oregon hospitals and health systems. OHPAC works to elect officials and help candidates understand the importance of strong community hospitals and health systems in Oregon.

The Oregon Hospital Political Action Committee (OHPAC) is the political voice for Oregon hospitals and health systems. OHPAC works to elect officials and help candidates understand the importance of strong community hospitals and health systems in Oregon.

OHPAC was founded in 1982 as a non-profit, non-partisan, voluntary membership-based organization that supports political candidates and elected officials who understand the importance of maintaining strong, community-based hospitals in Oregon.

OHPAC seeks to create a shared recognition in Salem and Washington, D.C. of the dual roles played by Oregon hospitals as community health advocates and as essential employers within those communities. OHPAC members provide grassroots and financial support to legislative candidates and office holders who demonstrate a commitment to Oregon’s community hospitals.

Workplace safety initiative

According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, two of the leading causes of health care worker injuries are manual patient lifting and workplace violence. Musculoskeletal disorder injuries are generally due to overexertion related to repeated manual patient handling activities, often involving heavy manual lifting associated with transferring and repositioning patients and working in extremely awkward postures. The consequences of work-related musculoskeletal injuries among health care workers are substantial both to the workers themselves and to employers.

Meanwhile, health care and social assistance workers are nearly five times more likely to be injured and require time away from work as a result of workplace violence. Oregon’s hospitals are committed to a culture of safety and believe in a doctrine of zero tolerance toward violence.  

To help address these issues, the Hospital Association of Oregon convened the Workplace Safety Initiative (WSI) Work Group in 2014 to find ways to collaboratively work on solutions.  Work group members included representatives from SEIU Local 49, the Oregon Nurses Association, and representatives from various member hospitals in Oregon. Lynda Enos, RN, BSN, MS, COHN-S, CPE, Ergonomics/Human Factors Consultant, HumanFit, LLC was the consultant working directly with the pilot hospitals, including writing the WPV toolkit and the SPH tools.

The goals of the WSI project are:

  • Identify and implement evidence-based programs to reduce injuries from patient handling and workplace violence and foster sustainable cultural change.
  • Strengthen relationships with partner organizations around health care worker and patient safety issues.
  • Disseminate lessons learned and tools developed to all hospitals in Oregon to assist implementation of sustainable effective workplace safety programs.

To reach these goals, the group developed a pilot project working with Oregon hospitals. Volunteer hospitals of varying sizes from across the state participated in the safe patient handling project or the Workplace Violence Prevention project. The work with these pilot hospitals directly informed the materials provided below.