The news comes as over 3,000 unionized nurses said they would strike if pay discussions cannot result in agreement. They are also campaigning over understaffing and what they see as excessive executive compensation at the same time as spending money on a potential merger with Portland-based Legacy Health.
“Based on negotiations to date and recent contract settlements at other Oregon hospitals, as well as other factors, we now estimate that nursing wages, staffing and orientation costs in (the current fiscal year) will increase $78 million more than budgeted,” OHSU CFO Lawrence Furnstahl told a board meeting, according to the report.
Hospital management has offered across-the-board raises starting at 15 percent in the contract’s first year, with smaller raises after that, a level it describes as “historic.”
OHSU netted an operating profit of $53 million on operating revenues of $4.6 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, the report said.
