Genesis HealthCare System joins launch of Ohio High Value Network
Rural Ohioans living in health care deserts face deadly crisis
Health care reporter Samantha Hendrickson explains how hundreds of thousands of rural Ohioans live in some form of health care desert.
More than 20 rural Ohio hospitals, including Genesis HealthCare System, are banding together in an effort to strengthen care and lower costs for some of Ohio’s most health care-deprived populations.
The 26 hospitals launched the Ohio High Value Network on April 17 to better care for roughly 2.5 million patients in 37 of Ohio’s 88 counties. The clinically integrated network aims to lower costs for patients, determine best practices for the unique needs of rural populations and share resources like supplies or care specialists between network members all while maintaining local control of health care.
“The Ohio High Value Network will enable rural hospitals like Genesis HealthCare System to work together with other like-minded, independent healthcare organizations in Ohio,” Matthew Perry, president and CEO of Genesis HealthCare System, said in a community announcement. “The more we work together, the better we can serve our communities – further enhancing quality of care and lowering costs. Joining OHVN will help Genesis to keep fulfilling our mission as an independent, faith-based health system caring for the residents of our region.”
The partnership comes at a time when nationally, hundreds of rural hospitals have closed or been bought by larger, usually urban-based hospital systems. Members of the network also include Adena Health System in Chillicothe, Memorial Health System in Marietta, Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton and other small independent hospitals serving primarily rural areas at every corner of the state.
“Think about the farming and agriculture community. It’s a cooperative,” said Jeff Graham, president and chief executive officer of Adena Health System. “We’ve created this clinically integrated network where all the independent [hospitals] come together under this umbrella for the goal of keeping us strong.”
Additionally, pooling together not just resources, but patient population thanks to the integrated network, will help smaller rural hospitals qualify for what’s known as “value-based care” contracts with insurers. These contracts reward hospitals for high quality care, but if a hospital has fewer than a certain number of patients in an insurance network, they don’t qualify. A clinically-integrated health care network can change that.
Cibolo Health, an organization seeking to support rural hospitals through establishing integrated networks, will manage the “day-to-day” of the network. Cibolo has already put together two of these networks – one in North Dakota in 2023 and another in Minnesota in 2024.
Genesis HealthCare System will have the option to participate in various collaborations within the network that will most benefit the local community.
Poorer health outcomes and looming federal cuts
Rural Ohio communities are often older, sicker and poorer than their urban counterparts, especially in Appalachia or rural communities of color, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
One of the driving factors of those outcomes is that hundreds of thousands of those rural Ohioans live in a health care desert, an area where health needs can go partially or completely unmet due to a lack of facilities and providers, transportation barriers, high costs and more. That makes preserving rural hospitals a matter of life and death for many.
Current proposed cuts to Medicaid at both the state and federal levels loom in the background of an already difficult situation. If those cuts to coverage go through, it would disproportionately impact rural areas, which have a higher percentage of people enrolled in Medicaid, according to data from the Ohio Department of Medicaid. That means less money coming in to sustain rural hospitals.
While much is still uncertain in the new administration, a clinically integrated network will better allow rural hospitals to advocate for their patients and facilities at state and federal levels, said Myron Lewis, president and CEO of Blanchard Valley Health System.
“We can come to a common ground on things and we can promote them together rather than in isolation of each other,” Lewis said.
Medical business and health care reporter Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at [email protected] or @samanthajhendr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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