Greater Ohio Planned Parenthood affiliate plans further staff cuts due to Medicaid losses

An Ohio Planned Parenthood affiliate is planning to cut staff for the second time, citing a significant drop-off in patients after Medicaid recipients were cut off from the clinic’s care.

The head of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio said the crush of federal funding cuts combined with the loss of Medicaid patients impacted the affiliate so much that a “right-sizing” of staff is necessary.

Erica Wilson-Domer, president and CEO of the Greater Ohio branch, said its 12 family planning centers, two ambulatory surgical centers, and the virtual health center will all stay open, but 14 to 15 positions overall are set to be cut.

“We kind of held on as long as we could while we could see Medicaid patients,” Wilson-Domer told the Capital Journal.

“There are just places now where it doesn’t make sense to keep the staffing level where it was.”

Some of the affiliate’s larger centers, like Columbus-area locations, would have one clinician and support staff as a result of the cuts, instead of the two clinicians they currently have.

Staff and management were notified on Tuesday of the planned workforce cuts.

The organization’s CEO said it had also reduced administration expenses at the highest levels of the group by $2 million over the last two years, through management consolidation and reductions.

“We’ve gotten as lean as we can possibly go,” Wilson-Domer said.

The full details of the new staffing cuts are still pending, now that Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s workers are unionized with the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

Negotiations with the union will take place before the cuts are made, though a timeline on the negotiation process is not clear at this point.

A representative for the group’s union confirmed it was notified of the planned staff cuts on Tuesday.

“As always, we are disappointed by any actions that reduce PPGOH’s workforce and plan to immediately enter into effects bargaining to try and reduce the impact on staff and patient care,” the union said in a statement to the Capital Journal.

This is the second time the Greater Ohio affiliate has had to make staffing cuts attributed to the federal funding woes.

The affiliate, along with Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio, is also in the middle of appealing a letter from the Ohio Department of Medicaid that proposes terminating its state Medicaid funds, based on the cuts made at the federal level.

Wilson-Domer said Medicaid patients made up 40% of the population who used Greater Ohio’s services, so the cuts that came from federal bans on Medicaid dollars going to Planned Parenthoods across the country led to a significant drop in patient volume.

Medicaid funds have long been prohibited from use in abortion care, and clinic leaders in the state have maintained that no Medicaid funds have been used for abortion services.

The inability for Medicaid patients to be treated at Planned Parenthoods will impact primary care for those low-income Ohioans who lack access or ability to get to other medical facilities.

That includes services such as regular health screenings, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, and contraceptive care.

“Really what (the funding loss) is hurting is those preventative services that keep communities healthy,” Wilson-Domer said. “The reality is there are places where people don’t have options.”

Since President Trump took office the second time, PPGOH has lost $10 million in funding, according to affiliate data.

That includes $2 million in Title X funding, a pot of federal money that goes to facilities who provide “family planning and preventive health services,” according to the federal Office of Population Affairs, who distributes Title X grants.

“Family planning includes a broad range of services related to achieving pregnancy, preventing pregnancy and assisting women, men and couples with achieving their desired number and spacing of children,” the office stated on their website.

As of Tuesday, the Office of Population Affairs listed 12 “family planning clinics” who receive Title X funding in Ohio, half of which are city or county health departments.

The closest clinic listed for a resident living in Cleveland would be the Morrow County Health Department in Mount Gilead or the Kno-Ho-Co family planning facility in Mount Vernon, a trek that could be more than 100 miles either way.

Someone in Athens would have to travel about 35 miles to get to the closest clinic listed for them, Family Health Services of East Central Ohio in New Lexington.

Those who have private insurance and can use the organization’s self-pay options are still able to access care through Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio.

The organization can also help give referrals to Medicaid patients for eligible providers, like Federally Qualified Health Centers.