Hospital affiliations
Kettering Health Network
Fort Hamilton Hospital — proposed (2010)
Greene Memorial Hospital (2007)
Grandview/Southview Medical Centers (1999)
Premier Health Partners
Upper Valley Medical Center (2008)
Atrium Medical Center (2005)
KETTERING — Fort Hamilton Hospital in Hamilton plans to join the Kettering Health Network, KHN announced Thursday, Feb. 11.
The Fort Hamilton Hospital board voted to pursue an affiliation agreement on Thursday, KHN said. The affiliation process is expected to take 90 to 180 days, KHN President Fred Manchur said.
Fort Hamilton is a full-service acute care hospital with 175 beds. It has 1,140 employees and 150 actively practicing physicians.
Fort Hamilton Hospital, 630 Eaton Ave., is withdrawing its affiliation with Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, which is disbanding, KHN said. The hospital had been affiliated with Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati for about a decade. It sent out a request for proposals to affiliate, and KHN responded, Manchur said.
Fort Hamilton had three other suitors, including Tri-Health and two for-profits, but thought KHN and its system of smaller hospitals would be the best fit, according to Robert Weigel, chair of the Fort Hamilton hospital board.
“They’ve done this kind of thing before, whereas Tri-Health has not, as far as bringing in a community hospital,” Weigel said.
Weigel said KHN’s primary local competitor, Premier Health Partners, had informal conversations with Fort Hamilton Hospital, but did not formally respond to its request for proposals.
Lynn Oswald, Fort Hamilton Hospital’s senior vice president, couldn’t be reached for comment.
The affiliation would augment KHN’s presence in the Interstate 75 corridor between Dayton and Cincinnati. Premier, which includes Miami Valley and Good Samaritan hospitals, has had an affiliation with nearby Atrium Medical Center (formerly Middletown Regional Hospital) since 2005.
Manchur said Butler County has been a focus for KHN for years. Competing with Premier in the growing area between Dayton and Cincinnati didn’t drive KHN’s interest in affiliating with Fort Hamilton, he said.
“We haven’t looked at it from that perspective,” he said.
Kettering Health Network, which employs more than 8,000 people, includes Kettering, Sycamore, Grandview and Southview medical centers, Greene Memorial Hospital and Kettering Behavioral Medical Center. It also is building a new hospital, Beavercreek Medical Center.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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