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In its attempt to buy rival Legacy Health, Oregon Health & Science University hired one of the best health care merger firms in the nation: Washington, D.C.-based Hogan Lovells.
Among its partners are Jeffrey Schneider, who has expertise in deals involving academic medical centers. He represented the State University of New York when it bought several hospitals and sold one, according to his online bio, and he helped Vanderbilt University spin off its medical center.
Another partner, Ken Field, is an antitrust expert who helped LCMC Health overcome antitrust opposition from the Federal Trade Commission (where he worked for six years) to purchase three hospitals from HCA Health in Louisiana for $150 million.
According to public records obtained by WW, OHSU started paying Hogan Lovells as early as Jan. 26, 2023, a month after the university approached Legacy about a deal. The first bill was for a modest $18,236.
That August, when OHSU announced its intention to buy Legacy, Hogan Lovells billed it $72,056. Monthly payments rose to $454,333 by December 2023 and peaked at $560,713 in June 2024.
In total, OHSU paid Hogan Lovells’ team $5.8 million over 26 months, billing records show.
Schneider and Field declined to comment.
In many cases, deals like OHSU’s require extensive, costly advice on how to navigate anti-monopoly statutes. But because it’s a “public corporation,” OHSU faced no anti-monopoly review by either the state or the federal government (“Operation: Merger,” WW, April 23).
Beyond describing an “evolving operating environment,” OHSU hasn’t said why it abandoned the Legacy purchase. OHSU, which provided the billing documents, didn’t return an email seeking further comment.