East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry closed its doors in March, and announced plans to reopen it under new ownership have yet to materialize. (File Photo)

MARTINS FERRY — The roller-coaster existence — and non-existence — of East Ohio Regional Hospital continued through its peaks and valleys this past year. Open at the start of the year, closed by spring, in the hands of a new owner in the summer with plans to open by the fall, yet the doors have yet to open again.

Rumblings began in March of problems at the hospital, as it began closing multiple departments and employees started missing several paychecks. Those employees were told by hospital officials to seek health insurance through the marketplace, as The Health Plan canceled the hospital’s policy. Belmont County also was seeking $1.2 million in delinquent property taxes.

Then came what the hospital called “temporary layoffs” in mid-March. Meanwhile, dozens of EORH employees had filed police reports with the Martins Ferry Police Department, claiming both unpaid insurance claims and unpaid wages.

On the evening of March 20, a sign in all capital letters appeared on the hospital’s entrance: “HOSPITAL CLOSED! PLEASE GO TO THE NEAREST HOSPITAL TRINITY, REYNOLDS, OR WHEELING!”

With that, East Ohio Regional Hospital – which former owner Dr. John Johnson bought in 2020 and reopened in 2021 – was shuttered again. By May, more than 200 former hospital employees had joined a class action lawsuit claiming the hospital did not provide federally required 60-day WARN notices, that back wages had not been paid and other issues.

There seemed to be light on the other side of the tunnel in late June. It was announced that 360 Healthcare Inc. had bought the hospital from Johnson. The company’s president Harold Ramsey said he wanted to reopen the hospital by fall.

“We came up with a restart plan that has a high degree of success potential,” Ramsey said this past summer. “Add that to a great team, and I think we come up with a blueprint on how to save hospitals like this around the country, especially with all the pressure we’re getting from Washington now.”

Yet autumn came and went without EORH opening its doors again, as the hospital was subject to even more lawsuits that halted progress.

In August, Belmont Savings Bank was granted an injunction and temporary restraining order in Belmont County Common Pleas Court against East Ohio Regional Hospital, pausing the hospital’s ability to dispose, liquidate or dissipate any of the hospital’s accounts receivable. The bank claimed the hospital had yet to pay back a pair of $1 million short-term loans from 2024 to cover payroll and other expenses.

Then former EORH employees filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition in September against the hospital to protect claims for unpaid wages the employees’ attorneys said had risen to seven figures. At that point, an interim trustee was appointed to secure the hospital’s assets and provide greater transparency to the process.

All that added up to hospital doors that remained closed as the calendar turned to 2026, with no news as to when, or if, they’d open again.