Oregon Association of Hospital and Health Systems v. Oregon

In an amicus brief submitted on January 28, 2025 to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Compassion & Choices (C&C) led a coalition of nonprofits and labor unions in defending the constitutionality of Oregon’s Health Care Market Oversight Program (HCMO). HCMO is a program designed to regulate large-scale healthcare system transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions. The brief argued that upholding HCMO is in the public interest because it promotes and preserves a wide range of critical healthcare interests, including:

• Oregonians’ ability to access healthcare, particularly rural, end-of-life, gender-affirming, and reproductive healthcare.
• The quality of healthcare available to Oregonians.
• The affordability of healthcare services in Oregon.
• The advancement of health equity across the state.

Compassion & Choices emphasized its concern about the potential impact on access to end-of-life care if the program is overturned. HCMO has already successfully conditioned multiple mergers and acquisitions on maintaining the availability of end-of-life care. Eliminating this program would significantly undermine access to such care.

In a decision issued July 3, 2025, the Ninth Circuit Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that the HCMO program and its governing administrative rules are not unconstitutionally vague. This decision ensures the HCMO program can continue to protect Oregonians from losing access to critical healthcare services as a result of a hospital merger, including end-of-life care.

The petitioner, Oregon Hospital Association and Health Systems, has stated that it will not appeal this ruling, ending the litigation.

Compassion & Choices is committed to ensuring patients have access to quality care and the full range of options at the end-of-life. To learn more about our legal advocacy work, please visit our Legal Advocacy webpage.

*Amicus curiae is Latin for “friend of the court.” Amicus briefs are commonly submitted by anyone wanting to make a point relating to a court case that the litigating parties are not addressing.