OCH History

1930s

• In 1930, Springfield General Osteopathic Hospital opened various locations across Springfield.

1950s

• In 1951, Dr. Billy V. Hall started Gravette Medical Center on Main Street in Gravette, while designing the layout for a 14 bed hospital that soon came to fruition.

1960s

• In 1967, Springfield General built and occupied a hospital at 2828 N. National on the Northside of town adjacent to Hwy 44.

1970s

• By 1971, 51 beds had been added and Gravette Medical Center Hospital was at full capacity.
• In March 1975 a new 4-story brick hospital building opened, housing 99 beds.

1990s

• Twenty five years later, eleven physician shareholders acquired the assets of Springfield General Osteopathic Hospital or SGOH. The 95-bed facility began operating under the name Doctors Hospital of Springfield.
• In 1997, a 100-bed hospital located at 2828 N. National in Springfield closed.

2000s

• In 2000, OCH re-opened it as a renovated 45-bed acute care hospital facility, with only 35 full-time employees. The facility grew over the years, employing providers and adding satellite clinics emphasizing the delivery of primary care to at-risk patients.
• In 2005, the 100-bed hospital located in Gravette closed.
• In early 2007, our organization was approached by community leaders from a remote town in Northwest Arkansas about the possibility of reopening a closed hospital that was once the major employer and medical safety net for many in rural Benton County. The facility was located in Gravette, Arkansas and had an inspirational history.
• As Doctors Hospital of Springfield expanded into Northwest Arkansas, the entity announced a name change to Ozarks Community Hospital, “OCH.” OCH of Gravette reopened the closed Gravette 4 story hospital building on Monday, April 14, 2008. Several years later, the Gravette primary care clinic on the same campus was also acquired from Mercy by OCH.
• In 2008, OCH re-opened it as a renovated 25-bed critical access hospital with 30 employees. The hospital grew over the years, employing providers and adding rural health clinics. Today, the network of facilities centered on the Gravette hospital includes more than 350 employees annually providing 100,000 primary care encounters.
• As the network of clinics continued to grow, OCH began referring to the two-hospital system as the OCH Health System.
• At the end of July, the Springfield hospital transitioned to an outpatient facility focusing on clinic growth.

2010s

• In late 2016, the OCH announced expansion to 5 rural health clinics including one in Oklahoma.