CHILICOTHE __ Twenty-six rural hospitals are launching the Ohio High Value Network (OHVN) to collaborate on clinical and business initiatives to strengthen healthcare in rural communities across the state, OHVN announced today.

The network’s foundation is a clinically integrated network (CIN) caring for a population of more than 2.5 million patients.

The network features 25 hospitals and other care sites in more than 115 cities and towns serving 37 of Ohio’s 88 counties; the network also includes a hospital in West Virginia. OHVN also is setting up operational collaborations designed to share best practices among its members and control contracting costs.

“We believe that strong collaboration is the best way to sustain high-quality care in our communities,” said Myron Lewis, OHVN board chair, and president and CEO of Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Ohio. “The more we work together, the better we can serve our communities—continuously improving quality, lowering costs and further strengthening rural healthcare.”

The network is in discussions with other rural hospitals in Ohio interested in joining as members and expects to grow.

The active daily management of the network will be led by principals from Cibolo Health, including Nathan H. White, president, and A. Clinton MacKinney, MD, chief medical officer. Cibolo Health helps independent rural hospitals create clinically integrated networks with their peers to overcome the obstacles rural healthcare providers face.

Ohio High Value Network is the third rural hospital network organized and operated by Cibolo Health. The first, the Rough Rider High-Value Network in North Dakota, launched in 2023, and the second, Headwaters High-Value Network in Minnesota, started in 2024.

Clinical, operational committees to be launched
The clinically integrated network will drive OHVN’s quality enhancement initiatives and care coordination efforts, and reduce administrative burdens for providers. OHVN will form a Clinical Integration Committee to oversee the network’s clinical and quality initiatives. The committee will include one clinical representative from each member health system.

“The Clinical Integration Committee provides a forum for clinicians to learn from each other, share best practices that improve patient outcomes and collaborate on ways to ease burdens on medical providers,” Dr. MacKinney said. “These efforts will strengthen high-quality, advanced care in our member hospitals and invigorate the communities our members serve.”

Building on proven benefits of collaboration
Many members of the Ohio High Value Network are already working together in one of several regional hospital collaborations in Ohio.

“We already know that working together not only provides benefits for our hospitals, but also for our patients, our employees and our communities,” said Jeff Graham, president and CEO of Chillicothe-based Adena Health. “It’s been a goal of mine for more than seven years to form this level of collaboration among our independent hospital systems. With the size and scope of the Ohio High Value Network, we can collaborate on even more impactful areas to enhance our ability to deliver advanced, high-quality care and do so efficiently.”