Columbus State, OhioHealth partner to invest $120 million in region's health care pipeline

The word of the day was "transformational" as local leaders gathered at Columbus State Community College's Mitchell Hall Tuesday to announce a joint investment totaling more than $120 million between the college and OhioHealth toward the goal of graduating twice as many health care professionals in the next decade.

Together, the community college and the health care system will invest in physical infrastructure and human capital to address workforce shortages across the Columbus area in five health care fields: nursing, surgical technology, medical imaging, respiratory therapy and sterile processing.

An expected $85 million of the $120 million investment will go toward constructing a new 80,000-square-foot academic building at Columbus State, expected to be named the OhioHealth Center for Health Sciences.

"This is a landmark day for the college and the region," Columbus State President David T. Harrison said at the announcement.

Joining Harrison and Dr. Steve Markovich, president and CEO of OhioHealth, at the event were Karen Morrison, president of the OhioHealth Foundation and OhioHealth senior vice president; Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, Franklin County Commissioner John O'Grady and U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty.

“This major development in Columbus’s Opportunity Corridor is a huge step forward for the city’s health care industry, our network of higher education institutions and our downtown,” Ginther said. “This is another example of the Columbus way brought to life, with a public-private partnership that benefits us all."

The growing demand for health care workers

Health care, like many other industries, has been struggling for several years with workforce challenges, Markovich said. Many health care systems came out of the pandemic wrecked by the stress and toll of COVID coupled with losses from the Great Resignation.

Employers in an 11-county region have advertised nearly 5,000 health care jobs per month since the beginning of 2022, according to OhioMeansJobs. A recent report from the Aspen Institute predicts that Greater Columbus will need 9,000 additional health care jobs by 2028, about a 22% increase, to meet demand for the region’s population growth and number of aging seniors.

O'Grady said rapid growth in the Greater Columbus area will bring exciting new opportunities, as well as new stresses and challenges that will require a bigger, more diverse health care workforce.

"Demand exceeds capacity across the board," Markovich said. "Health care doesn't have the luxury of closing its doors."

Currently, Columbus State enrolls about 1,500 students in nursing, surgical technology, medical imaging, respiratory therapy and sterile processing a year. Harrison said there are plenty more students who want to enroll. It's the most popular course of study for Columbus Promise students.

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But Harrison said it can be difficult to get all the students who want to enroll into those programs because there aren't enough faculty and staff to go around.

Markovich said some of the issue also has to do with infrastructure. If there aren't enough seats in classrooms, or opportunities at local hospitals or clinics, it can be difficult to get students the education they require.

What will the $120 million investment fund?

To help create a bigger pipeline, OhioHealth will give a $25 million endowment to the Columbus State Community College Foundation to expand and sustain academic programs by funding faculty and staff positions.

OhioHealth’s gift to Columbus State is believed to be one of the largest gifts ever to a U.S. community college. Markovich said this is the first investment of its kind for the health care system.

"It's one thing to build a building and have labs," Harrison said. "It's another thing to have these experts leading the educational journey."

In addition to the new OhioHealth Center for Health Sciences, some of the $85 million will go toward renovating classrooms and laboratories in Union Hall. Construction is expected to be completed in 2027. Columbus State plans to use dollars earmarked by a previously approved bond from 2020.

Harrison said the construction projects will be paid for using bond funding that Franklin County voters approved in 2020.

Additionally, the partnership will raise at least $12 million for student support and specialized equipment for medical simulation and other hands-on training through private philanthropy and grants.

“This bold partnership will ramp up the talent pipeline within key professions that form the backbone of our health care community,” Markovich said. “Together, we will increase the pool of home-grown talent, keep regional health care strong, and address health disparities by attracting a workforce prepared to care for our diverse communities."

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Harrison said these "five key majors" will be the first that the partnership will focus on, but he expects it will expand to more health science majors in the future.

"We're going to go where we need to go and grow with the health care community," he said.

Aside from the OhioHealth partnership, Columbus State is also in the process of creating a bachelor of science in nursing degree, the college’s first bachelor’s degree program, and is expected to enroll its first class in fall 2024.

"All boats will rise because of this investment," Markovich said.

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Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for her Mobile Newsroom newsletter here and Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus State, OhioHealth to invest $120 million in health care