Trending
BARNESVILLE - Ohio Hills Health Centers CEO Jeff Britton is helping to ensure residents in Eastern Ohio have access to good quality health care.
Britton took over as executive director of the company in July 2014 following the retirement of Theodore J. Koler, the organization’s first executive director.
Britton graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University with a bachelor's degree in respiratory therapy in 1994. In 2006, he graduated from Waynesburg University with his master's in business administration. Prior to becoming executive director at OHHC, Britton was the director of the Cardiopulmonary Services department at what is now WVU Medicine Barnesville Hospital, where he was employed for 20 years.
"I worked my way up through the administrative ranks at Barnesville (Hospital). When this job came available in 2014, I interviewed for it and was given the opportunity. I was really happy I made the decision to take this position with Ohio Hills Health Centers. My predecessor started the organization and was here for 38 years and I just want to follow his footsteps and carry on his mission and vision and grow the organization," he said, adding that when he interviewed for the position he asked the board what they expected from the new CEO.
"They wanted to improve quality care and grow the organization and that lined up really well with my goals. It’s worked out really well since then."
OHHC is a nonprofit health care operation that offers services in five locations in Eastern Ohio, including Woodsfield, Barnesville, Freeport, Caldwell and Quaker City.
"We're a community health center by definition and we offer primary health care and preventive health care services, similar to family practice services but we also provide x-ray services, lab services and dental services. In fact, we have three dentists ... that accept Medicaid. So that’s a big draw for us and we pull a lot of dental patients. We have dental sites in Barnesville and Freeport," he said.
OHHC is currently working to expand its services with renovations to its Barnesville location. Construction is underway for a new dental office that is being built next door to the health center.
"We're experiencing growth here," he said. "Since 2014, we established goals to expand services, to grow services, improve the quality and our number of patient services has grown exponentially which is one of the reasons we built the new facility in Woodsfield, why we're renovating our building here in Barnesville.
"We have about a 21,000-square-foot building that we only use about half of it currently," he continued, "so we're renovating the additional space into additional medical offices to meet the needs that allow us to grow so we can continue to expand here in the Barnesville market for the next several years."
The new dental site will be located next to the health center with officials hoping to open it in the summer.
"We’ll be moving into a larger facility to help us maintain the growth in our dental program," he added.
Also new over the past year is the opening of a 12,500-square-foot health center in Woodsfield in November 2021. Britton said it was built to provide care for an expanding market in the area.
"We have been in Woodsfield since the inception of Ohio Hills, which started back in 1976," he said. "Woodsfield was our first site. We were in that building for 45 years and were experiencing a lot of growth in Woodsfield and wanted to build a new facility that allowed us to expand and grow for the next 40-plus years.
"We outgrew that facility," Britton added. "It was an aging facility, so we started on this project in 2018 of locating a piece of property, designing the new building and securing funding for it. It was a long process, but well worth it. The new building is a state-of-the-art facility and will allow us to provide a higher level of care to our patients in Monroe County and the surrounding area. It will also allow us to expand as well."
Britton said the Woodsfield center sits on 14 acres which will allow for expanding opportunities in the future if deemed necessary.
"If we need to build another building, we have plenty of places to do so,” he added.
A notable aspect of OHHC is its patient discount program. Britton said the health centers offer "significant discounts” to people who do not have medical insurance or are low-income.
"That's something that makes us different from other doctor offices, that we can offer substantial discounts to patients in need," he said, adding that they do not refuse care to anyone based on their ability to pay for care.
Britton said they are always looking at areas that may be in need of a new health center.
"Being federally funded, we're required to basically go where the community needs us so we’re always looking in our service area where there is a need. We don't have any immediate plans to open up a sixth health center but we're always looking to see if there's a need within eastern Ohio for another community health center," he said.
Britton said every year OHHC draws patients from additional counties in the region. He said they will continue to observe and evaluate the needs of the community.
"We currently pull patients from nine counties in Ohio and three in West Virginia - Brooke, Ohio and Marshall counties in West Virginia."