Two Samaritan hospitals in Lincoln County in line to get nearly $2 million to help maternity care

By the Lincoln Chronicle staff

The two hospitals in Lincoln County could get nearly $2 million in state and federal grants designed to prop up maternity care in rural areas across the state.

The hospitals — Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport and Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City — could each get $963,000 as rural hospitals offering maternity care.

The money is part of $37.5 million in state and federal funds for rural hospitals announced by Gov. Tina Kotek last week. Last year, the Oregon Legislature approved $25 million for rural hospitals, and Kotek lobbied the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for federal matching dollars to help hospitals as they grapple with looming cuts in Medicaid, the health insurance program for lower-income people.

Under a tax-and-spending bill approved by the Republican-controlled Congress last year, Medicaid rolls are likely to plunge, and rural hospitals are especially dependent on Medicaid patients for income. In Oregon, one in three people are on the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s version of Medicaid.

A total of 21 hospitals in 17 counties will get the money and none had to apply. They were all included because they offer maternity care and are in rural parts of the state.

The two Lincoln County hospitals are part of Samaritan Health Services, which operates five hospitals in Lincoln, Benton and Linn counties. Besides the facilities in Lincoln City and Newport, it has hospitals in Albany, Corvallis and Lebanon. The latter one, Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, is also eligible to receive $963,000.

The hospital system is undergoing a potential affiliation that’s being reviewed by the Oregon Health Authority. MultiCare, a nonprofit based in Tacoma-Washington with 12 hospitals, wants to affiliate with Samaritan and promises to invest $700 million in the Oregon company, according to The Lund Report. Officials said that move would help shore up Samaritan’s finances. The health authority has to approve the transaction, and its review is currently on pause while it awaits more information.

Samaritan officials do not yet know exactly how much each hospital will get, but said the money will help shore up maternity services.

“We are so grateful for this financial boost and appreciate the efforts of Gov. Kotek and our legislators who understand the pressures facing rural maternity services,” Jennifer Kimberlain, vice president of hospital patient care at Samaritan, said in a statement to the Lincoln Chronicle. “The funds will help Samaritan sustain labor and delivery services in our rural communities by supporting our ongoing focus on provider retention, hiring new staff and expanding resources.”

State health officials said the money will help rural hospitals pay for more staff, buy essential medical equipment and invest in strategies to improve care and maternity services. Part of that effort could include supporting community outreach to Oregon Health Plan members.

“I fought for these funds in my budget to stabilize services in Oregon because rural communities deserve reliable, high quality maternity care close to home,” Kotek said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid will make rural maternity care harder to sustain, and I applaud the work by the agency to maximize state dollars to support Oregon providers.”

This year the Oregon Health Authority raised rates for maternity care to help larger hospitals treating Oregon Health Plan patients.

About half of all births in the state are covered by the Oregon Health Plan. Medicaid funding changes have already begun to impact rural providers in Oregon and across the country, the governor’s office said in a release. A large proportion of patients served by rural hospitals are on the Oregon Health Plan, which means they’re likely to be heavily affected by shrinking Medicaid rolls.

Maternity care has been especially hard hit, with maternity units closing in Oregon and across the country. Last August, Providence Seaside ended maternity services there. Other closures include Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City and St. Charles Medical Center in Redmond.

Samaritan Health considered ending its birthing services in Lincoln City and Lebanon but backed down from that idea after meetings with staff, doctors and healthcare administrators. The powerful Oregon Nurses Association also lobbied against the move, as did Oregon’s Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. and Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore.

But maintaining maternity care, which is not a big moneymaker for hospitals, requires investment, hospital officials say.

“Oregon’s rural hospitals face mounting financial and workforce challenges in sustaining the maternity services families rely on,” Becky Hultberg, president and CEO of the Hospital Association of Oregon, said in a statement last week.

Birth rates at Samaritan’s hospitals have been especially low, with North Lincoln having among the lowest numbers of births. In 2024, 119 babies were born at North Lincoln and 127 were born at the Newport hospital. They stayed about the same last year, with 110 births in Lincoln City and 123 at the Newport hospital, a Samaritan official said.

Gov. Tina Kotek said the investment is meant to protect access to care in places where pregnant patients often have few options nearby.

“Every Oregon family deserves access to safe, local maternity care,” Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement. “By bringing together public and private partners, we are aligning policy and funding to keep care close to home. This investment is about more than dollars — it’s about taking steps forward to sustain the health and vitality of communities for generations to come.”