Oregon’s two regional Planned Parenthood organizations plan to combine operations February 14, 2027, placing 12 health centers under one organization while preserving services at three locations whose current operator will dissolve. For Southern Oregon residents, the transition is expected to keep the Medford clinic open, maintaining reproductive health care for patients who already travel outside their communities for appointments.
The boards of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon and Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette have approved the consolidation. Columbia Willamette will assume operation of the southwestern affiliate’s remaining health centers and begin operating as Planned Parenthood of Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Announced November 10, the consolidation will bring the Medford, West Eugene and Eugene-Springfield health centers into the larger organization. Rising costs, low Medicaid reimbursement rates and financial pressures have made continued independent operation increasingly difficult for the southwestern affiliate.
Existing appointments, medical records, insurance arrangements and billing relationships are expected to carry forward through the transition. Clinics will continue offering birth control, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, menopause care and abortion care.
Preserving those services will require a significant employment transition as the southwestern organization winds down and Columbia Willamette prepares to take over its clinics.
Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon plans to lay off its 75 employees effective February 12. The affiliate is expected to end operations February 13, followed by the new organization’s launch the next day. Columbia Willamette is recruiting staff for the locations it will assume, and current southwestern employees are being encouraged to apply.
Keeping the clinics open does not guarantee that every employee will retain a position. The number of current workers who will join the combined organization has not been established.
For residents of Josephine County and surrounding rural communities, continued operation of the Medford location would preserve access following the permanent closure of Planned Parenthood’s Grants Pass health center. Former Grants Pass patients are directed to Medford or telehealth. The consolidation includes no announced commitment to reopen the Grants Pass clinic.
Medford would remain an existing destination for those patients, although the transition would not eliminate the travel required to reach it. Residents needing an in-person appointment would still have to arrange transportation, time away from work and other responsibilities associated with receiving care outside their home community.
Telehealth remains an option for available services. Whether patients can receive care remotely or need to visit a health center depends on the service and their individual needs.
The two Lane County locations will transfer alongside Medford into an organization already operating nine health centers. Both affiliates intend to continue operating separately until the February transition.
The financial pressures preceding the consolidation have also prompted Oregon to commit public funding to reproductive health services. State support helped sustain payments to the two affiliates during a federal reimbursement restriction that affected care for Medicaid patients.
During the 2025 regular legislative session, Oregon appropriated $10 million for reproductive health providers affected by reductions in federal funding. The Oregon Health Authority entered grant agreements directing that funding to the two Planned Parenthood affiliates. In November 2025, the Legislature’s Emergency Board allocated an additional $7.5 million to support reimbursement payments during the federal restriction period.
The two allocations represented separate investments in maintaining access to care, with the November funding supplementing the earlier appropriation.
Oregon added another payment protection in 2026 through House Bill 4127. The law requires the Oregon Health Authority to establish a payment mechanism for certain nonprofit reproductive health providers that are ineligible to receive federal Medicaid funds for services delivered to medical assistance recipients.
The federal restriction began with legislation enacted July 4, 2025. Section 71113 of Public Law 119-21 prohibited federal Medicaid payments to qualifying entities for services furnished during a one-year period beginning on that date. Both Oregon Planned Parenthood affiliates met the criteria.
The prohibition extended beyond abortion care, affecting reimbursement for other services delivered by the qualifying providers. Its statutory period ended July 3, 2026, and Medicaid funding resumed that July. The restriction had expired before the consolidation announcement, but the disruption preceded the affiliates’ decision to combine operations amid continuing cost and reimbursement pressures.
Patients are expected to retain access through existing locations as the organizations prepare to transfer operations. Southwestern Oregon patients can continue using 541-344-9411 to arrange appointments and discuss available services.
The February transition will bring the southwestern clinics under new management while requiring staff recruitment and the transfer of administrative responsibilities. In Southern Oregon, the immediate consequence is the planned continuation of care in Medford, preserving an established provider for local residents and patients traveling from communities whose clinics have already closed.