Samaritan Health Services operates a health insurance operation throughout Benton, Linn, and Lincoln counties.
InterCommunity Health Network CCO (IHN-CCO) administers Oregon Health Plan benefits, Oregon’s Medicaid program, for around 87,000 members across all three of the counties.
The Oregon Health Authority issued a final approval of the Samaritan/MultiCare merger on October 19th, allowing MultiCare to assume control of InterCommunity Health Network CCO as part of the merger.
Public attention has mostly been focused on MultiCare’s $700 million investment in Samaritan, but state regulator documents show some other financial challenges with Samaritan’s Medicaid insurance operations.
IHN-CCO operates through InterCommunity Health Plans Inc., a nonprofit subsidiary controlled by Samaritan Health Services.
According to the Oregon Health Authority’s October 9th regulatory report (linked at the bottom), IHN-CCO has been experiencing financial losses. In 2024, the unit lost $19.5 million, and those losses accelerated to $24.4 million in 2025.
It seems there might be a strategic reason MultiCare would want to take on a struggling Medicaid insurance operator.
MultiCare historically has not operated its own health plans, while Samaritan has experience administering insurance coverage, coordinating patient care, and managing relationships between insurers, medical providers, and patients.
By bringing Samaritan under their umbrella, it provides MultiCare with that expertise, along with an established Medicaid insurance operation.
(Photo: InterCommunity Health Network CCO at The WesternU COMP Northwest's Rural Health Care Equity Fair/Samaritan Health Services)
A better way to explain it might be… MultiCare is not just acquiring hospitals and clinics. It is also gaining an insurance operation that serves a large portion of our region’s population.
The affiliation is expected to take effect on November 1st, with Samaritan continuing to operate under its existing name and local leadership.
Samaritan says patients and insurance members should not expect immediate changes when the affiliation begins, although longer-term changes remain a possibility.
The Oregon Health Authority has also imposed ongoing reporting and oversight requirements, including financial monitoring and public reporting of capital contributions, provider-network changes, and health care quality.
It’s possible that MultiCare may need to contribute additional funding beyond its promised $700 million investment to support Samaritan’s Medicaid insurance operations. However, the report does note that IHN-CCO was profitable during the first two quarters of 2026. So there’s that…
The OHA publication report can be found here.
InterCommunity Health Network CCO’s website can be found here.
This article was written by Jesse Grant, a contributor to The Corvallis Inquirer. Feel free to send us your stories or articles to publish at: editor@corvallisnow.com
More recent stories:
→ Donate
We’ll still keep it ad-free and paywall-free even if you don’t. 100% of donations go to expanding local reporting, giving back to community causes, and minor operating expenses. Read more about our values and mission here.
Do you have a story for The Inquirer? Email: editor@corvallisnow.com
