Town Hall with PeaceHealth and the City of Florence

The City of Florence and PeaceHealth Medical Group are sponsoring a health care Town Hall to inform the community about the national provider shortages, the impact this is having on the greater Florence Area and what PeaceHealth is doing to shore up these critical resources.

The public is invited and encouraged to participate in this free event, which wil take place at 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Thursday, August 18th at the Florence Events Center. During this forum, PeaceHealth leader will address issues including:

• Nationwide health care provider shortages and the challenges of hiring for the Florence market.
• What action plans have been/will be implemented by PeaceHealth to recruit permanent and temporary providers
• How PeaceHealth will keep its patients informed when new providers become available

The City of Florence and Peacehealth recognize the recent provider changes can leave our community and patients in a state of unease.

"The PeaceHealth Talent Acquisitions team has been very supportive, and have been dedicating an amazing amount of resources to help us find viable, promising candidates," said Nena Harvey, director of operations for PeaceHealth Medical Group operations for Florence. "PeaceHealth leadership at all levels are committed to finding providers to care for the health needs of the community."

Nationwide physician chortages are expected to balloon in the next five years, estimating that by 2020 there will be 90,000 fewer physicians than needed, according to the new Amssociation of American medical Colleges work force projection.

Questions from the public will be solicited before the meeting and included in the discussion. This is a free, public event.