DELAWARE — The planned closure of Grady Memorial Hospital’s inpatient maternity unit on July 31 is not the only change OhioHealth has made to the hospital in recent memory.
The decision has focused attention on a 2005 affiliation agreement signed when OhioHealth assumed control of Grady Memorial Hospital, raising questions about how the hospital’s services have changed over the past two decades.
The agreement became a focal point of the public debate when Delaware City Councilwoman Linsey Griffith introduced a resolution during council’s June 22 meeting asking OhioHealth to “honor the affiliation agreement in full.”
Council unanimously approved the emergency resolution, which urges the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to enforce the affiliation agreement. The contract lists obstetrics among Grady Memorial Hospital’s core clinical services.
The agreement assigns enforcement responsibility to the Healthcare Foundation of Delaware County. However, OhioHealth confirmed the nonprofit dissolved in 2021.
As of June 25, the Attorney General’s Office told Delaware Source it is continuing to review the resolution passed by council and did not have any additional information to share.
Delaware Source independently reviewed the affiliation agreement and asked OhioHealth how services at Grady have changed since 2005, how the agreement guides those decisions and what the nonprofit health system envisions for Grady’s future in Delaware County.
What does the affiliation agreement require?
The 2005 affiliation agreement states that OhioHealth will maintain and operate “an acute care hospital” within the city limits of Delaware.
It also states the hospital “shall maintain the complement of Core Hospital Services” outlined in the agreement. Those include dozens of clinical services that were being provided at Grady Memorial Hospital when the agreement was signed.
Those services include:
- Obstetrics
- Emergency services
- Oncology
- Medical imaging
- Cardiology services
- Cardiac catheterization laboratory
- Intensive care/coronary care
- Rehabilitation services
- Laboratory services
- Surgical services
The agreement also includes numerous diagnostic and specialty services, including MRI, CT, mammography, ultrasound, echocardiography, pulmonary function testing and physical therapy.
The agreement states those services are to be maintained “in the same manner and subject to adequate demand” as they existed when the agreement was signed — language that has become central to the current debate.
OhioHealth told Delaware Source it believes it is continuing to honor the “spirit of the agreement,” even though the Healthcare Foundation of Delaware County is no more.
“In 2005, OhioHealth entered in an agreement with the Healthcare Foundation of
Delaware County, which dissolved in 2021 and the agreement is no longer,” the health system said.
“However, OhioHealth’s commitment to Delaware County has not changed, and we are continuing to meet the spirit of the agreement delivering a level of services that the community needs.”
OhioHealth said it remains focused on “supporting the community’s long-term healthcare needs by continuing to invest in services, facilities and access points that help patients receive the right care, in the right setting, close to home.”
How have services changed?
Several of the services identified in the affiliation agreement have changed over the past two decades.
During the June 22 council meeting, Griffith pointed to breast services, the cardiac catheterization laboratory and radiation oncology as examples of services that have changed since 2005.
According to OhioHealth, those services have not been eliminated but, in some cases, relocated or reconfigured as healthcare delivery has evolved.
Breast services and several others, for example, are now provided at the Delaware Health Center, a 60,000-square-foot outpatient facility on OhioHealth’s Delaware Medical Campus east of U.S. Route 23, about seven miles from Grady Memorial Hospital.
“Healthcare delivery is evolving quickly, with more services now provided beyond the hospital walls in convenient outpatient settings closer to where people live and work,” OhioHealth said in a statement to Delaware Source.
OhioHealth said it is focused on building “a coordinated network of care” across Delaware County that includes hospital-based services, outpatient centers and physician practices.
Griffith also cited the closure of Grady’s cardiac catheterization laboratory.
OhioHealth said the hospital transitioned its cardiac diagnostic program in 2019 to cardiac CT services.
“This faster upgrade is consistent with modern standard of care for most individuals who need an elective diagnostic coronary angiogram,” the health system said.
“Additionally, Grady Memorial Hospital’s emergency department team remains equipped and staffed to care for heart attacks and other high-risk heart and vascular conditions, and when needed, transfer patients to interventional cath labs.”
Griffith also questioned the future of radiation oncology services, saying OhioHealth was moving Grady’s radiation and oncology services to Westerville.
OhioHealth said radiation oncology remains available at the Delaware Health Center and is also being expanded in Westerville.
What does OhioHealth see as Grady’s future?
Delaware County continues to be one of the fastest-growing counties in Ohio.
According to the Delaware County Regional Planning Commission (DCRPC), the county’s population has grown from just over 109,000 residents in 2000 to more than 250,000 in 2025. The commission projects that number will exceed 312,000 by 2040.
That growth has prompted questions from some community members about why certain services at Grady Memorial Hospital have been relocated or reconfigured rather than expanded.
The 2005 affiliation agreement states Grady Memorial Hospital will be maintained in a “market-competitive condition” for its core hospital services until OhioHealth constructs a replacement acute care hospital within the city limits of Delaware.
Asked why OhioHealth has chosen to shift some services instead of investing further in Grady, the health system said it continually evaluates “population changes, clinical advancements, and the impact it has on community healthcare needs and access to care.”
Delaware Source also asked whether OhioHealth has plans to expand elsewhere in Delaware County.
The OhioHealth Corporation currently owns four undeveloped parcels in the county, but the health system said it has not finalized any future development plans.
“We are continuing to look at the future needs of the community,” OhioHealth said.
The four parcels, visible on the Delaware County Auditor GIS system, include:
- About 2.9 acres on Polaris Parkway in Westerville, acquired in 2018
- Two neighboring parcels totaling about 61.9 acres on State Route 37 in Sunbury, acquired in 2023
- About 17.9 acres on Hyatts Road in Powell, acquired in 2022
County auditor George Kaitsa explained that his office usually receives tax exemption applications from corporations before the land they own is developed.
No tax exemption applications have been filed for the four parcels, and three remain enrolled in the state’s Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) program, indicating they are currently being farmed, he said.
