Tacoma-based health giant expanding into new state. Here’s what we know
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- MultiCare will affiliate with Samaritan, expanding MultiCare into Oregon by mid-2026.
- MultiCare will invest over 10 years to modernize facilities, expand care and telehealth.
- Samaritan will remain nonprofit and locally governed; approvals required before changes.
Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System is expanding its reach into Oregon for the first time by joining forces with an Oregon-based health network.
MultiCare and Corvallis, Oregon-based Samaritan Health Services on Wednesday issued a joint news release announcing the affiliation.
“In the coming weeks, Samaritan and MultiCare will sign the formal affiliation agreement, paving the way for Samaritan to become part of MultiCare,” according to the statement.
“The two organizations will now begin taking the next steps needed to bring the affiliation to completion, which is expected to occur in mid-2026,” it added.
“This affiliation represents an important step in securing the future of nonprofit health care in our region,” said Marty Cahill, president and chief executive officer of Samaritan, in a statement. “Our commitment has always been to remain a community-based, mission-driven organization, and this partnership strengthens that promise for decades to come.”
Cahill said the affiliation would keep Samaritan’s services “nonprofit and locally governed.”
“We are excited and honored to become MultiCare’s first health system in Oregon and to bring the benefits of MultiCare’s expertise home to the communities we serve,” Cahill added.
As part of the agreement, according to the release, MultiCare will “invest resources over the next 10 years to modernize Samaritan’s facilities, grow primary and specialty care, and introduce new technologies and telehealth capabilities that improve access, patient experience and help lower the cost of care.”
The plans include an expansion of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, a level II trauma center in Corvallis, to add inpatient capacity.
“The affiliation will also bring MultiCare’s leading behavioral health network ... into Samaritan’s service area, increasing access across the mid-Willamette Valley and central coast,” the release noted.
Samaritan Health Services was established nearly three decades ago when Lebanon Community Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis joined forces to create the new health system. The system’s service area stretches from the coast roughly between Lincoln City and Waldport, across Oregon to Linn County and the towns of Albany, Lebanon, Sweet Home and Brownsville.
Samaritan’s system now includes five hospitals and more than 80 physician clinics and employs more than 5,000 employees, including 620 clinicians, according to its website.
The Lund Report, a nonprofit news organization that covers health care in Oregon and southwest Washington, reported earlier this year that Samaritan was considering finding a partner to help stabilize its finances, blamed on lagging government reimbursements.
Samaritan calls the affiliation “the next evolution of that journey ... .”
MultiCare, serving areas of Washington and western Idaho, currently has more than 28,000 employees, providers and volunteers, with more than 300 primary, urgent, pediatric and specialty care locations and 13 hospitals.
MultiCare CEO Bill Robertson said in a statement: “MultiCare and Samaritan are closely aligned in our mission, vision and values, making us ideal partners as we strengthen our networks across our service regions.
“It will be our privilege to be a part of the communities Samaritan serves and we look forward to working together to support and advance health care in Oregon,” Robertson added.
The affiliation, pending state and federal regulatory approval, is anticipated to be finalized in the spring or summer of next year, so no immediate changes will be implemented for patients, employees or health plan members.
More information on the affiliation is available at samhealth.org/Affiliation.
