Health

Belpre's new women's and children's hospital stalls as Ohio waits on federal rural funds

Belpre, Ohio • October 28, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: a hospital construction site in rural Ohio at dusk with a crane and Appalachian hills

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

Construction of southeast Ohio's first women's and children's hospital in Belpre is on hold while its builder waits for federal rural-hospital money that had not been released as of October 28, leaving families facing the same long drives for specialty care the hospital was meant to end, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

Marietta-based Memorial Health System broke ground in 2024 on the new hospital, which received $30 million in state funding. The project was first expected to be finished in late 2026. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has yet to approve an at-least-two-year funding program for rural hospitals in 10 counties whose populations are statistically older, poorer and sicker than urban areas, the Dispatch reported. As of October 28, hundreds of millions of dollars to rural hospitals had yet to be distributed, including an expected $36 million for Memorial Health System.

For families in the region, the delay is measured in miles. Washington County Commissioner Charlie Schilling told the Dispatch that he and his wife drive more than two hours from their home in Beverly to reach specialty pediatric care for their two youngest children, adopted, at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus or Akron Children's Hospital — a four-hour round trip. The Belpre hospital would cut that trip to about 35 minutes.

“We believe these [funds] to be essential... and without these rural tax pilot funds, I'm concerned about the future stability of our health system,” Scott Cantley, president and CEO of Memorial Health System, which had more than one million patient registrations in the last year, told the Dispatch. The 66,246-square-foot facility, developed in partnership with Akron Children's Hospital, is planned as the only hospital dedicated to women and children in southeastern Ohio, with a Level II neonatal intensive care unit, private delivery rooms and specialty care including pediatric cardiology and neonatology, according to Memorial Health System.

Sources: Columbus Dispatch (Oct 28, 2026); Memorial Health System.