The largest health care strike in Oregon history began early Friday at Providence across the state, as roughly 5,000 frontline health professionals walked off the job. The strike — which includes mostly nurses and 150 doctors and advanced practitioners in addition to thousands of nurses — spans Providence’s eight hospitals in the state.

Area hospitals including Oregon Health & Science University have been planning how to handle transfers during the strike, according to Sara Hottman, a university spokesperson. OHSU is home to the Oregon Medical Coordination Center and is also tabbed by the state to help coordinate during surges in hospital bed demand.

Oregon’s Providence hospitals and nearly 5,000 of its workers have yet to agree on terms to bump wages and address staffing shortages. That means the largest health care strike in the state’s history will begin Friday morning.

With up to 70 doctors intending to strike at St. Vincent alone, the hospital plans to cap new patient admissions. Even with bringing in outside physicians, it expects doctors will be able to accommodate only 250 to 275 patients. Flashback: In summer 2023, Providence nurses went on a five-day strike, which ended without a secured contract.

Providence Health & Services in Oregon has asked federal mediators to revisit negotiations with doctors and other advanced clinical providers set to go on strike next week.

Thousands of nurses are expected to walk out along with dozens of doctors, all members of the Oregon Nurses Association.

Providence has, in the past, consistently refused to negotiate with the union during the 10 day period before a strike takes place. That’s drawn the ire of the union, which says other health systems, including Kaiser Permanente and St. Charles Bend, have averted strikes by continuing to negotiate in the final days.

Nearly 5,000 nurses, doctors and other health workers at Providence Health & Services hospitals and clinics in Oregon are walking off their jobs beginning 6 a.m. Friday. It is set to be the largest strike by health workers in the state’s history — and the first involving a union representing doctors.