Legacy to shutter birth center at Mount Hood Medical Center

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Health

Legacy to shutter birth center at Mount Hood Medical Center

Published: Jan. 30, 2023, 5:39 p.m.

By Jeff Manning | The Oregonian/OregonLive Noelle Crombie | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The birth center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham, where 700 babies were born last year, will close March 17, a blow to east Multnomah County families and the latest sign of the challenging financial landscape confronting hospital systems as they emerge from the pandemic. ... Legacy officials plan to redirect patients, including those in labor, to its Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in North Portland. The two hospitals are nearly 17 miles apart, which on a busy day can take 30 minutes or more by car.


Legacy, like virtually every other hospital chain in Oregon, is suffering financially due to a staffing shortage and capacity issues. Too few nurses statewide means nursing homes can’t provide enough staffed beds, forcing hospitals to house some patients for much longer than expected. ... Through the first three quarters of 2022, Oregon hospitals lost $319 million from operations, according to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. As a result, many are looking to cut costs.

The Mount Hood birth center, which delivered fewer newborns than Legacy’s five other birth centers in Oregon and Southwest Washington, has become one of the first of those cuts, but likely not the last. ... Obstetrics wards are closing all over the country. St. Charles Health System in Bend recently closed the birthing center in its Redmond hospital.

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