Grande Ronde Hospital gets state maternity care funding boost

A new state funding boost could help keep babies delivered in La Grande, where Grande Ronde Hospital has been carrying a growing share of Union County maternity care. State officials said the federal government approved Oregon’s rural maternity payment plan on May 28, opening the door to more money for hospitals that are trying to preserve labor and delivery services.

Governor Tina Kotek, the Oregon Health Authority and the Hospital Association of Oregon said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved Oregon’s proposed state-directed payment for maternity care in rural communities. OHA said the money comes from a one-time $25 million state investment authorized by the Legislature in House Bill 5025 in 2025, and that the approval could bring up to $37.5 million statewide to strengthen and stabilize rural maternity care.

The payment plan is aimed squarely at hospitals where the math no longer works easily. OHA said $15 million will go to small rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds that offer maternity care, while $10 million will help larger hospitals by increasing maternity-care payments starting in 2026. OHA has also said roughly half of all births in Oregon are covered by the Oregon Health Plan, which makes Medicaid reimbursement a major issue for rural hospitals trying to keep obstetric services open.

At Grande Ronde Hospital, the stakes are local and immediate. The hospital’s Family Birthing Center reported a 35 percent increase in patient volume by early 2025, and Grande Ronde Hospital Foundation later said births at the center had risen by more than 30 percent since fall 2023. For Union County families, that means the closest place for prenatal follow-up, labor and delivery, and emergency obstetric care remains in La Grande instead of farther away in eastern Oregon.

Wallowa Memorial Hospital in Enterprise was also included in the same coverage, a reminder that this was designed as a regional fix for an eastern Oregon corridor where rural hospitals have struggled for years. Oregon Health News has reported that many rural hospitals are fighting to keep labor and delivery units open, and a June 2024 report said only one-quarter of Oregon’s 32 rural hospitals offered obstetric care. The Hospital Association of Oregon has pointed to workforce shortages, low birth volume and low Medicaid reimbursement as the core pressures.

The question now is not whether rural maternity care needs help, but how far this money goes at Grande Ronde Hospital. Families in Union County will be watching for more than a larger reimbursement line. They will be watching to see whether the hospital can keep maternity staffing steady, preserve service availability and prove that more state and federal support translates into safer, closer care when a birth is on the line.