Lake Oswego, Ore. – May 14, 2019 – Oregon’s 62 community hospitals accounted for $20.9 billion in economic output in 2017, according to a new study prepared for the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS) by ECONorthwest. “Today’s report shows that the state’s hospitals make vital contributions not just to the personal and community health of Oregonians, but to the economic health of the communities they serve,” said Andy Van Pelt, OAHHS executive vice president. “From the ranches of Harney County to the urban centers of the metro Portland area, hospitals bring jobs and economic vitality to Oregon.” As the report shows, hospitals are major employers in our state and in many cases a community’s largest employer. They support 137,839 direct and secondary jobs, meaning that more than one in 20 Oregon jobs is connected to hospitals and health systems. In addition to the total economic impact, hospitals contributed more than $12 billion to the Gross State Product (GSP). “I just think you can’t underscore enough the important role of hospitals in the regional economies,” said John Tapogna, president of ECONorthwest, the economics research firm that produced the report. “They provide thousands of the types of middle-wage jobs that are disappearing in other industries.”
