TriHealth said it will invest several million dollars in the center in the coming year to open an emergency department and expand cardiology and cancer services and create more than 100 jobs. Seven hospitals serve Butler County: Atrium Medical Center, Cincinnati Children’s Liberty Campus, Fort Hamilton, Mercy Health-Fairfield, McCullough Hyde Memorial, West Chester and Bethesda.
Health care and social assistance has become the largest jobs industry in all of Greater Cincinnati, employing 21,000 people in Butler County, according to Economic Modeling Specialists Inc.
“Butler County’s a big county, a very big county. But we’re very confident in our ability to serve and our physician’s ability to serve the patients in the community here,” said TriHealth Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jerry Oliphant. “This really becomes kind of the hub from our northwest market for development.”
TriHealth is the parent health system of Cincinnati hospitals Bethesda North and Good Samaritan, as well as a total more than 80 health facilities. It opened in 2006 TriHealth Bethesda Arrow Springs in Lebanon in Warren County. Its new Hamilton location, TriHealth’s Bethesda Butler County, is a division of Bethesda North.
The 17-year-old health system is also affiliated with Hospice of Hamilton and owns 15 acres of undeveloped land in Liberty Twp.
John Prout, president and chief executive officer of TriHealth, said the health system is a big provider of services in Butler County, but it didn’t have a physical location here before. Bethesda Butler County has room to expand, he said.
“This is a unique facility. It’s not a traditional old design hospital. Its focused on cost efficient, convenient, ambulatory, but has the ability to take care of patients overnight if we need to,” Prout said. “This is clearly what the community needs in going forward in health reform. We can do more and more sophisticated services in an outpatient arena and even in the hospital.”
Duke Realty purchased the five buildings on the campus and leased them back to TriHealth. The physicians reached a co-management agreement with TriHealth to manage services and quality, Oliphant said.
To increase heart and cancer services, the Cincinnati health system plans to increase the cardiologists and oncologists at the facility.
“I think TriHealth overall brings a very integrated set of services. We really do cover the spectrum from physicians, hospital, testing, hospice,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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