Multnomah County could end as many as 21 full-time positions in its behavioral health division, with roughly 17 more in jeopardy in the next fiscal year, documents show.
The Board of Commissioners will vote on whether or not to approve the proposed cuts Thursday. The proposal stems from a $4.6 million reduction in behavioral health funding from CareOregon, the state’s largest provider of Medicaid benefits, according to materials for the board meeting.
Those cuts would hit the county’s Youth and Adult Care Coordination program the hardest. The program aids people of all ages in navigating behavioral health resources and treatment, and it stands to lose over 18 full-time positions. Two others would be cut in the jail care coordination pilot program offering the same services to inmates.
The Behavioral Health Center would lose one position as well, documents show.
It’s unclear how many of those positions are vacant or just how many employees will face layoffs. County leadership declined to comment ahead of the Thursday meeting.
Another 17 positions are on the chopping block, but the county plans to divert around $2.4 million to keep those jobs online until at least June 30. That proposal will also go to the board Thursday. Those positions include care coordinators for adults with severe and persistent mental illness, medical records staff and behavioral health quality managers, among others.
The behavioral health division has around 330 employees, according to budget documents.
The future is grim as the county grapples with a constrained budget heading into the 2026-27 fiscal year. The CareOregon funding is not expected to come back, documents show.
Health Share of Oregon, which oversees CareOregon and Medicaid for the region, announced in September that it was anticipating financial losses due to rising health care costs and other factors. Altogether, CareOregon manages Oregon Health Plan benefits for roughly 560,000 members, or just under 40% of the state’s Medicaid population.
Clackamas County announced it would be ending 27 positions across its behavioral and public health divisions in October. Around 15 of those were as a result of the CareOregon reductions, which totaled $2.6 million.
Washington County expects a $3.8 million loss, impacting around 18 to 20 positions. But spokesperson Wendy Gordon said the county worked to reassign “many of the impacted staff” to other roles. All told, three people will be laid off at year’s end, Gordon said.