James McGovern

Dr. James McGovern is no longer the chief hospital executive for PeaceHealth's Oregon Network.

McGovern was placed on administrative leave following accusations he tried to influence patient care without a medical license.

The RiverBend Medical Executive Committee submitted over 300 pages documenting instances of McGovern overstepping his role.

This article has been updated with additional information.

Dr. James McGovern is no longer PeaceHealth’s chief hospital executive for the Oregon Network, according to a PeaceHealth press release.

According to the release, the change is effective immediately.

PeaceHealth President and CEO Sarah Ness said McGovern's departure is in the organization's best interest.

“Following a period of administrative leave, we determined that a leadership change was in the best interest of the organization,” Ness said.

McGovern was placed on administrative leave April 9 pending a review of accusations he acted outside the scope of his administrative medical license. The RiverBend Medical Executive Committee raised concerns with PeaceHealth that McGovern was attempting to influence patient care.

McGovern holds an administrative medical license and is not licensed to practice medicine in Oregon. The administrative medical license does not allow for direct patient care or clinical decision-making.

More than 300 pages of documented instances were submitted to the PeaceHealth System Board of Directors by the RiverBend Medical Executive Committee March 19. The materials outlined communications from 2022 to 2025, in which McGovern reportedly overstepped his administrative role and attempted to influence care decisions.

McGovern’s leave came amid PeaceHealth’s attempt to install a new management organization to staff its Lane County emergency departments.

McGovern was part of the committee that decided to replace Eugene Emergency Physicians, a democratic and independent physician group that has staffed PeaceHealth’s Lane County EDs for the past 35 years, with Georgia-based ApolloMD. ApolloMD planned to staff EDs with doctors from an LLC the management services organization set up called Lane Emergency Physicians.

Eugene Emergency Physicians challenged the legality of the move, citing violations of Oregon’s Senate Bill 951, which prohibits management services organizations from engaging in both administrative duties and patient-care decisions. The ensuing lawsuit played out in federal court as the first test of the law. Eugene Emergency Physicians and PeaceHealth settled, renewing the physicians’ contract for the next three years.

In an April 9 meeting, RiverBend’s medical staff passed multiple motions related to McGovern’s behavior and the proposed staffing change. Motions were to place McGovern on administrative leave pending a full review, to reverse the decision to award ApolloMD the ED staffing contract and to reinstate Eugene Emergency Physicians. The motion to reconsider the contract award to ApolloMD was “based on new evidence suggesting potential bias” and “possible retaliatory influence” from McGovern.

The Medical Executive Committee issued a formal reprimand to McGovern for “actions that endangered patient safety" and planned to file a report with the Oregon Medical Board about McGovern.

The Oregon Medical Board declined to comment on whether a complaint has been received or if a licensee is under investigation, as information is only publicly available if an investigation results in Board action.