T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry remains dark and quiet last week, but signs of life are expected to appear soon as a new owner hires staff, conducts maintenance and prepares for its reopening.

MARTINS FERRY — With a 6-month-old child in his lap, Harold Ramsey talked about why he believes he is the right person to get the heart of East Ohio Regional Hospital beating again.

The managing partner of Rising River Capital LLC and president of 360 Healthcare Inc. talked with The Times Leader by phone on Thursday, saying that a change based on common sense is in order at the Martins Ferry facility. He acknowledged that when the previous owner, psychiatrist Dr. John Johnson, purchased the defunct facility in 2019, many people thought he must know what he was doing because of his experience in the medical arena and in managing other care facilities. Since the hospital closed again this past March, Ramsey said that was “clearly not the case.”

Ramsey, who works in finance and investment markets, does not have that same type of experience, but he believes he “got in the weeds of the operation and found the solution” for EORH — keep the clinical and financial sides of the business tight.

“We came up with a restart plan that has a high degree of success potential,” he said. “Add that to a great team, and I think we come up with a blueprint on how to save hospitals like this around the country, especially with all the pressure we’re getting from Washington now.”

He said the keys are to provide high-quality care, make sure patient information is coded and documented properly, and ensure claims get filed with the appropriate entities.

“Otherwise it’s like trying to carry water in your hands for a hundred yards,” he said.

Progress so far

Ramsey said in the two weeks since 360 Healthcare Inc. purchased EORH, his team has begun to tackle many of the obstacles that lie in the way of reopening. At the top of that list is seeking to have the hospital’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services licensing reinstated. Since it was revoked for financial collapse and not for any reason related to quality of care, he believes there is a sound basis to appeal that decision.

Ramsey said there are also facility maintenance issues to address and discussions with vendors and utility providers that may still be owed money. There also is a need to ensure the hospital has the right equipment to restart its operations.

“Everything in the hospital needs to be cleaned,” he added.

Ramsey said he has begun reaching out to key employees and personnel and developing an organizational chart. He said letters of intent have been going out, and there are discussions with a number of healthcare providers, who he said are the “heart and soul” of the hospital. He said he wants them to “feel supported and in the know.”

Although he has had talks with city and county leaders such as Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies, Belmont County Port Authority Director Larry Merry and Commissioner J.P. Dutton, he said 360 Healthcare is not seeking any tax breaks such as the agreement Johnson had with the city. That deal returned income tax paid to the city by hospital employees to the hospital when it made capital improvements. Ramsey said he is “mainly focused on the operational restart” of the hospital and keeping local officials “updated and in the loop.”

“The good news is that systematically, we found the Achilles heel of this hospital,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got great momentum building, and we can’t fail to keep that going.”

Availability of care

Regarding the type of care he expects the hospital will provide, Ramsey said he does not plan to focus on the types of specialty services that Johnson aspired to provide. He pointed out that Alecto Healthcare Services, which owned and closed the hospital before Johnson acquired it, had better collection rates than Johnson did without offering any specialty care. He said Alecto operated the facility with about 13-14 days of cash flow available, which he said was “not great” but was better than the financial collapse that occurred under Johnson. That led to employees not being paid wages they were owed and not having their health insurance premiums paid, as well as to a $1.2 million property tax delinquency.

Ramsey said “you can’t collect sand if you have a hole in your bucket,” adding that management of claims and denials is crucial to maintaining the financial health of the facility so it can continue to operate.

He said he is working to “carve out” 501(3)(c) status for an oncology treatment center, saying that would provide the cash flow to finance equipment that would potentially persuade providers from Ohio State University hospitals or some Pittsburgh hospitals to travel to see patients in Martins Ferry and provide a higher level of care.

Ramsey said if he can find providers who want to be involved, he would create a program to make it easy for them. He envisions offering such specialty services three or four days a week with “stacked schedules” that would see a provider performing eight to 12 procedures in one day. EORH would facilitate those doctors’ visits with amenities such as concierge service from the airport and handling all of the charting and billing for them. He termed these “scrappy, creative, specific strategies” that he believes will give the hospital “everything it needs to take care of itself.”

He also pointed to the facility’s helipad as an asset. He said if used correctly, it could help provide quick transport to Pittsburgh or Columbus, which can sometimes be critical to patients in the local area.

Staffing

Although he is not ready to announce any staff members yet, Ramsey said he has some key administrators already in place.

“The reception we have had from key talent has given me a lot of confidence,” he noted.

According to Ramsey, the staff included about 394 people on average under Johnson’s management.

“That’s something we need to work smartly to manage,” he said.

Ramsey said the hospital needs to arrive at the right ratio of providers to patients and to ensure the right staff is in place to get claims and collections done right. He said the total number of staff may come down some — but “not the 40% people are hearing about, maybe a 10% reduction.”

“The success of the hospital is not predicated on firing a bunch of nurses in the Ohio Valley,” he added.

“We have had a lot of buy-in from true blue people,” he said, noting there are skeptics out there as well. “We communicate, we facilitate, we educate.”

He said 100-plus former employees have committed to come back, and his team has also spoken to a dozen providers who are interested in returning as well.

“I am humbled by the love that people have for the hospital,” he said.

More about Ramsey

“People need to know what this means for me,” the Brooklyn, New York, native said. “When you look at where I come from, you don’t see many of us sitting in this seat.”

Ramsey studied Financial Economics at Binghamton University. He has worked in capital raising, investment management, corporate development, finance, business analysis and strategy in projects across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North and South America.

He is a father of two with a 7 ½-year-old in addition to the baby.

Ramsey said if he can make his plan for EORH work as a “blueprint for rural hospitals,” it could lead to a “generational shift for his family as well.”