Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, Barnesville Hospital, and American Nursing Care to Launch Joint Home Care Venture

On December 11, 2009, Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center Home Health, Barnesville Hospital Home Health, and American Nursing Care (ANC) will join forces to create Southeastern HomeCare, a joint venture dedicated to providing patients in southeastern Ohio with the highest quality homecare available.

Ownership of Southeastern HomeCare will be shared by the three partners and a board of managers consisting of representatives from each will oversee the business. American Nursing Care specializes in homecare management and will serve as the managing partner.

American Nursing Care is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TriHealth sponsor Bethesda, Inc., and has been in the homecare business over 30 years, operating 23 locations in three states. ANC has a track record for successful joint ventures with homecare providers, including partnerships in Springfield, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana; Florence, Kentucky; Vincennes, Indiana; and Lexington, Kentucky.

"This collaboration creates a wealth of opportunities that might not be available to an individual home care business," said Ray Chorey, CEO of Southeastern Regional Medical Center. "Merging the strengths of each organization will provide our home care operations with the resources, talent and organizational stability to deliver improved levels of service to the communities we serve."

Quality patient care will be the focus for Southeastern HomeCare. American Nursing Care was one of the first home care agencies in the nation to earn accreditation from The Joint Commission, demonstrating a commitment to provide high quality and safe patient care. Barnesville Hospital Home Health has been named to Home Care Elite 3 consecutive years. This annual review identifies the top 25 percent of agencies ranked by quality outcomes, quality improvement and financial performance. All 3 partners have also achieved deficiency-free Medicare surveys.

"The more we looked at this joint venture, the more sense it made," said Barnesville Hospital CEO, Rick Doan. "The three organizations have similar missions and values and, more importantly, we share the same commitment to delivering excellent, compassionate patient care."

"This joint venture is really about doing what each of us already does well - delivering high quality home care - and working together to do it more efficiently and grow our opportunities in the market," said Dan Dietz, President and CEO of American Nursing Care.