Home About Samaritan Our Organization Sustainable Health Care Exploring Services: Women & Children
The current national shortage of OB/GYN physicians presents notable recruitment and retention challenges. Samaritan Health Services currently has five OB/GYN physician vacancies across its service area, some of which have remained unfilled for over 12 months. As a result, Samaritan has relied on temporary physicians and Labor & Delivery nurses to maintain necessary coverage, leading to prohibitively high expenses.
To address these issues, Samaritan is evaluating opportunities to redesign the Women & Children program in order to:
Proposed consolidation of Labor & Delivery services would allow for more efficient use of inpatient facilities, reducing the requirement to staff underutilized locations around the clock with specialized health care professionals. By concentrating Labor & Delivery services at three hospitals rather than five, we aim to mitigate the excessive on-call demands that negatively impact clinician recruitment and retention. These enhancements are expected to improve access to outpatient OB/GYN services, foster increased collaboration among clinicians and staff and strengthen the overall resilience of Samaritan’s Women & Children’s program.
Samaritan clinicians, leaders and analysts and exploring all aspects of the Women & Children’s clinical program, including:
In total, there were 856 hospital days where mandatory staffing was required despite no deliveries occurring, resulting in an estimated cost of $10 million—costs not reimbursed by payers. The direct loss on obstetric services totaled $7.8 million, accounting for all deliveries at Samaritan hospitals.
East Linn County: Two-thirds of residents delivered outside Lebanon; 24% delivered at GSRMC, and 20% at SAGH. The drive from Lebanon to Corvallis or Albany ranges from 14 to 21 miles, approximately 25 to 35 minutes.
North Lincoln County: 77% (69 individuals) chose Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital for delivery. The distance from North Lincoln to Newport is 28 miles, with travel times ranging from 45 to 90 minutes depending on conditions.
All Samaritan birth centers meet established standards for maternal morbidity/mortality and obstetric service quality. Consolidating deliveries to three hospitals is projected to maintain or enhance these outcomes through greater consistency, concentrated expertise, and decreased dependence on temporary staff.
Importantly, this approach will not create maternity care deserts—U.S. counties lacking maternity resources—as outpatient and prenatal services will be maintained at all current locations.