T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry remains dark and quiet Monday, but signs of life are expected to appear today as a new owner visits the site and the city.

MARTINS FERRY — Local leaders and residents seem cautiously optimistic about the future of East Ohio Regional Hospital now that the facility has changed hands once again.

Founded in 1906 as Martins Ferry City Hospital, the healthcare campus closed in September 2019 when then-owner Alecto Healthcare Services of California shuttered it and its sister facility, Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, which has since been demolished. Dr. John Johnson acquired the Martins Ferry property and reopened the operation in 2020. It closed again this past March after weeks of departmental closures and reports that property taxes and staff wages were not being paid.

On Monday, it was announced that 360 Healthcare Inc. purchased the hospital and that company President Harold Ramsey has launched efforts to reopen it in the fall.

Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies said the sale occurred last week and said he is hopeful that the hospital will open again. He spoke highly of Ramsey, who he said he has met with and had weekly communication with for some time. He described Ramsey as “very professional” and “very intelligent.”

Ramsey, who is also a managing partner of Rising River Capital LLC, brings over 20 years of capital markets expertise across finance, alternative investments and structured finance, a according to the release issued Monday. His credentials include capital raising, investment management, corporate development, finance, business analysis and strategy, as well as a global network of relationships. He was formerly licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and studied financial economics at Binghamton University.

A post on the hospital’s social media states that Ramsey has worked on Wall Street for 20 years. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and is married with two children. He is expected to visit Martins Ferry today to meet with hospital executives, Davies, local media and others.

Davies said he is pleased that Ramsey is working to revive the facility, because the healthcare system in the Ohio Valley is “stretched to the max.”

“The city is grateful for the opportunity to again host a hospital,” Davies added. “… So we’re pretty excited. Mr. Ramsey’s going to absorb a lot of the debt, from what I understand, and he has a plan to make payment back on I believe all of it. … Whatever debt was created by the hospital, I think Mr. Ramsey’s going to make good on it. …

“It seems to me that the gentleman has invested a whole lot of money and a whole lot of time … the guy works a lot, and I think he’s dedicated to getting the hospital back open. Hopefully Martins Ferry and citizens in the valley kind of wrap their arms around the hospital and embrace … the opening.”

Davies noted that the city’s previous agreement with Johnson to return 75% of the city income taxes paid by hospital employees to the hospital when it completed capital improvements is no longer in play. He said Ramsey did not seek to arrange any such tax break and said the previous agreement became null and void when Johnson broke his contract by failing to make required property tax payments.

Belmont County Treasurer Katherine Kelich started the foreclosure process on East Ohio Regional Hospital in early May after it failed to make the second $33,732.14 installment of its plan to pay off $1.2 million in delinquent property taxes. Kelich previously said EORH Chief Financial Officer Julie Ross reached out on the due date, April 30, inquiring if the hospital could make a partial payment or whether another arrangement could be made. Kelich informed Ross that an alternative plan was no longer a possibility, since the hospital broke its payment contract. Hospital leadership and Kelich had agreed on the 36-month payment plan after a long period of no contact from the hospital.

When the foreclosure process began, Kelich said the first step would be identifying lien holders on the property. At the end of the foreclosure process, which she said would take six to 12 months, she anticipated that the property would be sold at a public auction conducted by the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department.

On Monday, Kelich said she was aware that the hospital had been sold, noting that it is still the subject of an active foreclosure case. She said the new ownership has contacted her office to request additional time to resolve the delinquent property tax issue.

Kelich said she intends to treat the hospital like any other Belmont County taxpayer, meaning that all back taxes and associated fees are still owed to the county. She said that would only change as a result of a court order.

Since the sale just occured last week, she said her discussions with the new owner are still in very early stages. She noted that since Ramsey “paid a very large sum to Dr. Johnson,” she assumes that Ramsey accounted for payment of the taxes owed when making his decision to invest in the facility.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said the commissioners hope that Ramsey’s plans come to fruition.

“We’re cautiously optimistic is the way I personally feel about it,” Dutton said, noting that it isn’t the type of project the county could offer incentives for. “The facility has had sort of an up and down history over the past few years, but we are hopeful that it works out for the best. We will be supportive and be there where we can.”

Social media posts about the plan to reopen the hospital drew mixed reactions from the public on Monday. While many expressed joy at the prospect of Martins Ferry again having a hospital, a few were skeptical. Others indicated they would like to see an established healthcare system take over the facility.

According to the release issued Monday, Ramsey’s initial goals include the restoration of power for the campus, a complete cleansing of the hospital, and continued communication with both Martins Ferry and Belmont County officials.

“East Ohio is on a clear, controlled path for a professional restart, and we’ve established the direction by working with federal representatives with the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid, and with several talented professionals in Columbus, Ohio,” Ramsey said. “We are working toward site readiness and the hospital’s formal accreditation.”

The employed physician group will open offices soon, and in the fall, the facility will resume general hospital operations, the release notes. Hiring providers and key staff members is underway, and a jobs event will be scheduled in the near future.

“We want to continue the long tradition of providing quality healthcare to the people of Martins Ferry, and to the people here in the Upper Ohio Valley, and we want to do that with the healthcare professionals in the region,” Ramsay said. “There are a lot of steps we have to take in order to accomplish that goal, but we’re going to get there sooner than later.”