Skip to main content
The state regulator examining Oregon Health & Science University’s acquisition of Legacy Health is looking into allegations that two members of an all-volunteer board set up to advise state staff on the deal have conflicts of interest because of ties to the hospital systems.
A division of the Oregon Health Authority called Health Care Market Oversight, or HCMO for short, must approve the OHSU-Legacy deal. As part of its due diligence, HCMO convened a community review board to weigh in on how the combination would affect Oregonians and whether it should be approved. The board has no decision-making authority.
Questions about the two board members arose March 26, when a Portlander Barbara A. Jacobson wrote a four-page, lawyerly letter to the the health authority and the Oregon Department of Justice describing what she saw as conflicts.
“As a local resident, I write with an urgent request,” Jacobson wrote. “It appears that two Community Review Board members have conflicts of interest that preclude them from participating in the review of the OHSU-Legacy Health transaction.”
The two board members in question are Joanna Mott, who until December was provost and vice president for academic affairs of the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, and Jerry Dalnes, business development manager at office-furniture retail outlet Harris WorkSystems, whom Jacobson incorrectly identifies as “Jeffrey Dalnes.”
Health authority spokeswoman Amy Bacher said HCMO has received Jacobson’s letter and sent her allegations along to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for evaluation.
“We can report back once OGEC provides its opinion,” Bacher said in an email.
According to Jacobson, Mott has a conflict because the Oregon Institute of Technology partners with OHSU on various degree programs, including one in nursing, where, according to Oregon Tech’s website “you’ll learn sound clinical judgment and excellent technical skills, while completing the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing program prerequisites and non-nursing course requirements necessary to apply to the nursing program and complete the bachelor of science in nursing degree through OHSU.”
Moreover, the search committee that named Mott as Oregon Tech’s provost in 2019 included OHSU provost Elena Andresen, the letter says. Oregon Tech’s website confirms that. Andresen retired from OHSU in June 2021 with emeritus professor status.
“OHSU and Oregon Tech have extensive financial relationships that directly affected Dr. Mott prior to her very recent retirement,” Jacobson wrote. “Prior to that event, any Community Review Board decision affecting OHSU would have had major consequences for Dr. Mott, her institution, and her career. It would have been to her financial disadvantage and that of her institution for her to participate in a public discussion or render any decision in such a way that her actions were viewed as anything other than favorable to OHSU’s interests.”
Mott didn’t return a message left on a phone number listed in her name. Nor did she respond to a message sent over LinkedIn.
Dalnes, meantime, has a disqualifying conflict in Jacobson’s view because his company, Harris WorkSystems, sells office furniture and equipment to health care companies.
“Mr. Dalnes advertised his participation on the Community Review Board on his LinkedIn page,” Jacobson wrote. “Mr. Dalnes has an actual conflict of interest to the extent that the transaction involving OHSU or Legacy Health results in financial benefit or detriment to Mr. Dalnes, his relatives and members of his household, and business associates.”
Dalnes didn’t return a voicemail or a message sent on LinkedIn.
HCMO’s community review board met today to discuss the OHSU-Legacy merger. It plans to meet again April 7 to vote whether to approve the deal, and again April 16 to review its draft recommendation and, if ready, approve the document.
“In light of the Board’s impending decision, expected as early as next week, I request a swift investigation into, and prompt corrective action regarding, their participation in the community review board,” Jacobson wrote. “Under these circumstances, we respectfully ask Dr. Mott and Mr. Dalnes be removed from the community review board.”
The letter comes during a campaign by animal rights groups to force OHSU to close the Oregon National Primate Research Center, arguing that primate research is outmoded and that a record number of animal injuries and deaths prove that daily operation there is inhumane. The effort gained momentum last week when Gov. Tina Kotek urged OHSU to “figure out” how to close the center in a “humane and responsible manner.”