Nearly two dozen Oregon rural hospitals will receive $37.5 million in state and federal funds to shore up labor and delivery care ahead of Medicaid cuts going into effect next year, though state and hospital officials say the one-time funds are likely a limited solution. The program, which was greenlit by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month, combines $15 million in state dollars with more than $22 million in federal matching funds. The money will be distributed to the state’s 21 rural hospitals that provide maternity care, most of which are more than 50 miles from the next closest birth center. The funding was announced after a number of rural hospitals across Oregon have closed — or threatened to close — their labor and delivery units, which typically cost more to operate than they bring in. As InvestigateWest highlighted, these services are often eliminated when a struggling hospital is trying to prevent closure altogether.
Oregon officials described this new assistance as a short-term buffer against the financial pressures facing rural hospitals that put their maternity services at risk, including rising costs, staffing shortages, and looming changes in Medicaid eligibility and spending.
