Oregon Planned Parenthood Affiliates Merge Amid Medicaid Pressures
Oregon's two Planned Parenthood affiliates announced they will consolidate into a single statewide organization, following board votes by both groups. Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, which has served Eugene and the Rogue Valley for 60 years, will dissolve effective Feb. 12 and lay off its entire 75-person staff, transferring its three clinics in Eugene, Springfield and Medford to Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette. That organization will relaunch Feb. 14 as Planned Parenthood of Oregon and Southwest Washington and plans to keep the transferred clinics open with uninterrupted patient care, medical records, insurance coverage and billing. Leaders cited Medicaid reimbursement rates that have not kept pace with costs, provider recruitment struggles, and a one-year Medicaid billing bar imposed under HR 1 as financial pressures; about 70% of PPSO's patients are on Medicaid, and HR 1's coming Medicaid changes are projected to add significantly to the number of uninsured Oregonians.