OhioHealth has seen steady growth in recent years, with Morrow County Hospital, a 25-bed critical access facility, becoming the nonprofit health system’s fourth acquisition in two years.
Becker’s connected with Chris Clinton, president of OhioHealth Regional Market, to discuss the system’s recent growth, the integration process for Morrow County Hospital, and its vision for additional growth and expanding rural healthcare services.
Editor’s note: responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: How does the acquisition of Morrow County Hospital align with OhioHealth’s long-term growth strategy?
Chris Clinton: Many hospitals in rural communities look to align with larger systems to take advantage of the collective resources that brings. The relationships OhioHealth is pursuing are ones that offer value to the potential new member, OhioHealth, and, most importantly, the communities we serve. Morrow County Hospital is a great example of this. After 40 years of managing the hospital, they embodied our culture and values of compassion, excellence, inclusion, integrity and stewardship. Welcoming them into our family was a logical next step to grow and enhance the services available to the community.
OhioHealth is continually evaluating the services we provide to ensure we’re meeting the varied and changing needs of communities. We aim to grow and enhance services that keep care close to home. For example, we’ll be making investments in emergency and surgical care at Morrow County Hospital.
Q: What are the biggest challenges OhioHealth anticipates in fully integrating Morrow County Hospital? How does the system plan to address the healthcare needs of Morrow County’s rural population?
CC: While the transition to a new system can be overwhelming at times, we feel integrating Morrow County Hospital will go especially smooth thanks to our 40-year partnership. The hospital already shares our values and understands how we operate. One change on the horizon for associates is implementing a new electronic medical record system. While it may take some getting used to, the new system will improve patient care, streamline workflow and grow patient engagement and access to healthcare services. This will allow for a more seamless connection to the Morrow County community, as well as with the rest of OhioHealth.
Q: Are there any plans for significant capital investments or upgrades at Morrow County Hospital to enhance its facilities or introduce new technologies?
CC: Yes, OhioHealth has committed to making over $12 million in improvements at the hospital over the next five years, including information technology, facility, infrastructure, and medical equipment improvements.
Currently, we plan to grow primary care, heart and vascular, and general surgery services, as well as invest in emergency care. As with all of our hospitals, OhioHealth will continually evaluate the services we provide to ensure we are meeting the varied and changing needs of the Morrow County community.
Q: OhioHealth has added four hospitals in the last two years. Are there plans for further expansion in other regions?
CC: We are always exploring potential relationships with organizations that share our mission and values, including Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, Ohio.
When a hospital becomes a member of OhioHealth, the goal is to maintain and even increase the level of care provided. Certainly there will be some patients who need an advanced level of care that can only be found at larger hospitals, but those will be the exception, and not the norm.
We want to keep as much care as possible in these communities and we do that by investing in new equipment, services, facility upgrades and physicians to enhance service offerings and ensure these hospitals continue to operate and remain competitive.
