This article was originally published by The Lund Report and is used with permission.
After months of discussion involving administrative leaders and medical staff, Samaritan Health Services officials have decided to continue maternity and surgical services at its five hospitals in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Lincoln City and Newport.
The company announced Wednesday it will redesign its maternity and surgical programs, with a goal of providing services with its current staff and reducing its reliance on expensive temporary providers. The hospital system also plans to establish two system-wide teams — one for surgery and another for obstetrics and gynecology — to enhance collaboration, coordination and continuity of care.
The decision follows 70 sessions involving clinicians, staff and hospital leaders about ways to sustain the hospital system, its announcement said.
Marty Cahill, Samaritan’s president and CEO, said in the release he was impressed by their collaboration.
“I am proud of how our clinical program workgroups have continued to work through the process of exploration in recent months,” Cahill said. “I am also very impressed with how Samaritans have come together with innovative solutions to work toward financially sustainable health care.”
With five hospitals and more than 100 clinics, Samaritan is the dominant health care provider in Benton, Linn, Lincoln and parts of Marion and Polk County. But like many other health care systems, it has struggled financially in recent years.
In March, the company’s then-CEO Doug Boysen told The Lund Report that the company’s finances had become untenable and that “all options” were on the table. Then in May, company leaders started discussing potentially cutting emergency surgical and maternity services at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital and Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital.
That prompted an outcry, with members of the Oregon Nurses Association rallying against the move. The union represents about 1,100 nurses at the hospitals in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon and Newport.
Nurses union welcomes announcement
The Oregon Nurses Association union hailed Samaritan’s decision to retain services, noting that it came following a months-long campaign by providers, patients, community members and even some members of Oregon’s congressional delegation to retain surgery and maternal services at the two hospitals.
“From the beginning, nurses and families made it clear these birth places are irreplaceable and must be saved,” the union said in a release. “Generations of families got their start here, and generations fought together to make sure future families have access to safe, local health care.”
Cahill acknowledged that sentiment.
“The feedback we received was clear – our teams want to sustain essential services close to home, while finding new ways to collaborate, reduce reliance on temporary providers and strengthen financial sustainability,” he said.
Rural hospitals in particular have been under severe financial strain in recent years as they grapple with reimbursement rates from insurers and the federal government that fall short of rising expenses.
As a result, hundreds of hospitals have closed their maternity units in recent years: at St. Charles in Redmond in 2019 and St. Alphonsus in Baker City in 2023. This month, Providence said it would close its maternity services in Seaside in October.
Legacy also closed its birth center in Gresham in 2023. But that prompted an outcry and the state intervened. It said Legacy didn’t follow the proper procedures and had to reopen.
