Hospital shifts to new era

This weekend marks the end of another era for Jay County’s hospital.

The duties of the IU Health Jay board come to an end at midnight Sunday, three years after Jay County Hospital’s integration with IU Health.

Beginning Monday, IU Health Jay will fall under the jurisdiction of the IU Health East Central Region Board, which also governs IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital and IU Health Blackford. The change marks what amounts to the final step of the integration process that was agreed upon in November 2017 and went into effect at midnight Feb. 28, 2018.

Dr. Jeff Bird, president of IU Health’s east central region, said he’s appreciated the work the board has done.

“We knew that there were going to be challenges in the integration, and the Jay board has been walking in partnership with me and the Jay presidents, Dave Hyatt and now Jon Vanator, and it’s just been an extraordinary pleasure for me,” he said. “I appreciate the devotion to healthcare they have for Jay County. They’ve been incredible to work with.

“We didn’t always know what direction we were going, didn’t always see things exactly the same, but we worked together to be able to really make some extraordinary changes the last few years …”

Facing massive financial losses in the millions with no end in sight, Jay County Hospital Board in early 2017 began looking for options to create a sustainable future. After researching several health systems, the board settled on the strategy of integrating the hospital into IU Health. As part of that agreement, the Jay County Hospital board members became part of the IU Health Jay board, along with Bird, IU Health Ball chief operating officer Lori Luther, IU Health’s east central region board chair John Littler (Dave’s brother) and Dr. Frank Vormohr, to govern the hospital for a period of three years. That board held its final meeting virtually Feb. 16, with bricks from the hospital — it is currently undergoing several renovations — presented to board members Dave Littler, Pat Miller, Roger Locker, Janet Bantz, Bill Hinkle, Debbie Kummer and Chuck Huffman.

Hinkle and Dave Littler will continue to represent Jay County on the east central region board, which also includes Bird, Hyatt, John Littler, Terry Whitt Bailey, Dr. Derron Bishop, Daniel Borgenheimer, Tory Castor, Dr. Patrick Cleary, Wil Davis, Jud Fisher, Dr. Samuel Kim, John Littler, Geoffrey Mearns, Steven Rhea, Dr. Charles Routh and Dr. Pete Voss. (The integration agreement calls for two members of the board to be Jay County residents.)

The outgoing board members have been invited to be a part of IU Health Jay’s new president’s advisory council. It is modeled after a similar group Hyatt started at upon becoming president of IU Health Blackford last year.

Vanator, who took over for Hyatt as president of IU Health Jay, said he plans to utilize the council as a sounding board for community sentiment and outreach, advice on business best practices, engagement and assessment of community needs.

“We still want the local community feedback on how the hospital is doing,” said Dave Hyatt, who started as CEO of Jay County Hospital in 2013 and then became president of IU Health Jay before turning over the reins to Vanator on June 1. “We still want the community to know how we’re doing from a quality standpoint, what our strategic planning is, to be sure that we’re working toward the community health needs assessment. The president’s advisory council is a good way of doing that. It still engages the community in the local hospital … It’s a good thing for us.”

Perhaps the largest responsibility for the outgoing IU Health Jay Board over the last three years was to determine how to spend $5 million that IU Health contributed to a capital improvement fund as part of the integration. Those plans were announced in December, with funds going to relocate the outpatient physical therapy ($1.26 million), outpatient behavioral health from the former Vormohr Medical Center building ($1.16 million) and cardiac and pulmonary outpatient rehabilitation ($821,100) from satellite buildings to the hospital and expand the Family First practice ($767,500). Each of those projects is expected to be complete during 2021.

The remaining $1.25 million has been transferred to The Portland Foundation to establish the IU Health Jay Hospital Legacy Endowment Fund. It will be used to “benefit the health and well-being of the residents of Jay County.” (The fund is The Portland Foundation’s 400th.)

Looking back on the efforts of Jay County Hospital Board during the financial challenges that led to the integration, Little said he feels the group made the right choice in selecting IU Health.

“It was a difficult decision,” he said. “There wasn’t anything easy about it. But I think we did make the right decision.”