The Family Service of the Upper Ohio Valley is splitting from Ohio Valley Health Services & Education Corp.
According to the West Virginia Health Care Authority, a certificate of need was granted to allow the move that will make Family Service a free-standing, nonprofit corporation. OVHS&EC is the parent corporation for Ohio Valley Medical Center and East Ohio Regional Hospital.
Tim Adkins, certificate of need director, said Family Service did not have to ask the Health Care Authority for permission to separate; it simply had to notify and apply for the status.
''They initially were an independent organization and then they went under the umbrella of the corporation. Over time they decided to go back to being independent. ... They decided it was better, especially for them, to break off because it would make them eligible for more grant dollars,'' Adkins said.
Last year, Family Service officials approached the Ohio County Commission seeking $20,000 from the county's hotel-motel tax fund to help bolster its 2011 budget. Officials at that time cited a decrease in federal funding and an increase in food, insurance, utility and gas costs as reasons for their need. The commissioners decided they could not grant the request because hotel-motel tax fund money is reserved for tourist- and recreation-related events and activities.
George Couch, president and chief executive officer of OVHS&EC, said, to the best of his knowledge, Family Service did not receive funding from the hospital corporation for its annual budget. It sometimes did provide support services related to computers and general accounting, he added.
Adkins noted Family Service during its time as a subsidiary continued to maintain its own board of directors and offer senior services separate from the hospital corporation. It is located in the HRC Building, 51 11th St., Wheeling.
''With significant increases in patient care volume at both Ohio Valley Medical Center and East Ohio Regional Hospital throughout 2011 and into 2012, it is important for our organization to remain focused on our core mission of providing quality, state-of-the-art family-centered health care to the Ohio Valley community,'' Couch said. ''The OVHS&EC and FSUOV Boards have jointly agreed to move forward separately to provide the greatest opportunity for future success by operating as individual organizations.''
According to the Health Care Authority, the hospital corporation acquired Family Service in 2000. Prior to 2000, Family Service was independent.