Changes coming for Ashland Community Hospital in 2026
Facility transitioning to satellite campus, retaining emergency and outpatient services.
Asante announced today its plans to transition Ashland Community Hospital to a satellite campus of Rogue Regional Medical Center by spring 2026. In the coming months, the small inpatient hospital will close its license and transition to become an extension of Rogue Regional based in Medford. Services will continue at the current location on Maple Street, including the 24/7 Emergency Department and key outpatient services including surgery, lab and imaging. This new designation will improve the facility’s clinical and operational stability, protecting critical access to the most utilized services.
“There are significant and growing challenges for health care organizations across the country. The financial and regulatory landscape for Oregon hospitals is worsening,” says Tom Gessel, President and CEO of Asante. “This past year, Ashland Community Hospital lost millions of dollars. Operating the hospital with inpatient and obstetrics services is no longer viable, and duplicating underutilized services with Rogue Regional just 11 miles away is not the best use of limited health care resources in the valley.”
Over the last year, Ashland Community Hospital has seen an increase in outpatient and Emergency Department visits. While the demand for these services continues to increase, the hospital has sustained a significant decline in birth rates and inpatient admissions. Just 37 births from Ashland residents took place at the hospital in 2025.
Gessel continues, “Bold, difficult decisions are needed to combat the headwinds. Legislation implemented in Salem has put hospitals in an untenable situation. This will only worsen with the future reductions to Medicaid funding. For smaller communities like ours, consolidating duplicative services are inevitable – especially those in such close proximity. What this means for the Ashland campus is to maintain emergency and outpatient services being used most by residents, while consolidating services that are underutilized. Asante is a not-for-profit organization and the largest health care provider in the region employing 226 physicians. As stewards of vital health care resources, this transition is the only option.”
As the largest health care provider and employer in nine counties, Asante provides comprehensive medical care to 600,000 people throughout southern Oregon and northern California including:
- Rogue Regional Medical Center is a tertiary regional referral and level II trauma center. Expertise includes heart, vascular and stroke care; women and children’s services; cancer care; orthopedics and gastroenterology services.
- Three Rivers Medical Center is a full-service community hospital recognized for surgical services; outpatient surgery; cancer care; women’s health and childbirth services.
- Asante Physician Partners includes 366 primary and specialty physicians and advanced practice providers throughout Jackson and Josephine counties.
Once this transition takes place, patients who require an overnight inpatient stay or obstetrics services will be transferred to nearby Rogue Regional. All employees in departments remaining at the facility will continue their existing roles. Staff within impacted departments will be offered a like position at Asante’s other hospitals.
For more information, please visit www.asante.org/faq/
Asante is a locally owned and governed not-for-profit health system with 6,000 employees providing compassionate care to nearly 600,000 people in a nine-county area of southern Oregon and northern California. Asante includes Ashland Community Hospital, Asante Physician Partners, Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Three Rivers Medical Center in Grants Pass, and additional health care locations throughout the region.
