Ashland Community Hospital Will Keep ER Open but Move Overnight and Maternity Care to Medford by 2026

ASHLAND, Ore. — Asante’s Ashland Community Hospital will transition to a satellite campus of Rogue Regional Medical Center (RRMC) by spring 2026, while continuing to offer emergency and outpatient services at its current location on Maple Street.

Asante Ashland Community Hospital Transitions To RRMC Satellite Campus

Yesterday, Asante announced its plans to transition the small inpatient Ashland Community Hospital to a satellite campus of RRMC in 2026.

The hospital will close its license and become an extension of Medford’s Rogue Regional. Services, including the 24/7 Emergency Department, surgery, lab, and other key outpatient services, will continue at the current location on Maple Street.

The hospital’s new designation is geared towards protecting critical access to the most utilized services by improving the facility’s clinical and operational stability.

Ashland Community Hospital saw an increase in outpatient and Emergency Department visits over the last year. The demand for these services continues to increase.

Conversely, the hospital has sustained a significant decline in birth rates, with just 37 births from Ashland residents at the hospital in 2025, and inpatient admissions.

Tom Gessel, President and CEO of Asante, confirmed that:

“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.”

Asante, the largest health care provider in the region, is a not-for-profit organization and employs 226 physicians.

The nonprofit provides comprehensive medical care to 600,000 people throughout southern Oregon and northern California, including at RRMC, a tertiary regional referral and level II trauma center with expertise in heart, vascular, and stroke care, as well as several other specialist services.

Here is how busy the broader Asante system already is on an average day:

After the hospital transitions to a satellite campus, patients who need an overnight inpatient stay or obstetric services will be transferred to nearby Rogue Regional, while all employees in the remaining departments will continue their existing roles.

Staff at impacted departments will be offered a similar position at Asante’s other hospitals.