The recent rebranding of CAMC and Mon Health signals a new era in health care across the Mountain State.
When CAMC Health System and Mon Health System merged and the umbrella brand was announced, decision-makers were certain about the hospital network’s new name: Vandalia Health.
The first part of the name was inspired by the late 18th-century proposed British colony that stretched across Pennsylvania, Ohio and most of present-day West Virginia. Vandalia Health, which was created on Sept. 1, 2022, has grown from four hospitals to 17, with outpatient offices and telemedicine centers across most of the Mountain State, and into regions of all four bordering states. The name was selected to represent the people, culture and history of the region.
Vandalia Health’s rapid expansion has been under the leadership of Dave Ramsey, president and CEO, and Jeff Sandene, executive vice president and chief financial officer. This summer, upon Ramsey’s retirement, Sandene will step into Ramsey’s role. Over most of the past decade, however, Sandene has been the architect behind the evolution of West Virginia’s second-largest private employer.
“We have accomplished a lot, but we’re about halfway through a 12-chapter book,” said Sandene, who has held a variety of financial, operational and integration roles within health care throughout his long career.
Vandalia Health’s corporate headquarters are in Charleston, and Sandene said it was paramount in the health system’s long-term vision to keep its roots in the state. That decision can be traced back to the infancy of Sandene’s time with the organization, then known as CAMC Health System, when Sandene was lured from Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to advise CAMC Health System’s CEO and board of directors on strategic financial planning, network development and growth initiatives.
The health system wanted to pursue growth within West Virginia and the surrounding region while keeping its base and talent local. There was no interest in merging with a large out-of-state health system that would move corporate offices beyond the Mountain State’s borders. The first opportunity was identified as Mon Health. Soon, Vandalia Health will open its 18th hospital, in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Vandalia Health owns 14 of the network’s hospitals and manages the other three.
“We’re not done growing,” Sandene said. “We have organic growth that we’ll focus on, but we’ll have external growth because we need to partner. We want to bring health care to the communities we serve. We can’t use what we’ve done in the past as a roadmap for the future. We have to be able to pivot. As the incoming CEO, part of my role is to be a catalyst for change, and then to help lead that change.”
Sandene has been a driver for Vandalia Health’s growth since he was hired in 2017. Now, Vandalia Health provides health care in 28 counties throughout West Virginia. The northern service area includes Mon Medical Center, Mon Marion Neighborhood Hospital, Mon Preston Memorial Hospital, Mon Stonewall Jackson Hospital, Grafton City Hospital, Highland-Clarksburg Hospital, Minnie Hamilton Health System, Davis Medical Center, Broaddus Hospital and Webster Memorial Hospital.
The southern service area includes seven CAMC hospitals: Memorial, General, Women and Children’s, Charleston Surgical, Teays Valley, Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and Plateau Medical Center.
Overall, Vandalia Health has more than 14,500 employees, nearly 1,600 beds, 2,000-plus physicians and advanced practice providers and more than 220 ambulatory locations in five states. In 2024, the health care system had more than 2.3 million patient contacts, including 58,000 discharges, 281,000 emergency room visits, 949,000 outpatient procedures and more than a million clinic visits.
“Our mission is simple,” Sandene said. “We are enhancing health care in our communities through clinical excellence, one person at a time. In addition, we want to make care local. Not everybody can travel to Charleston for care, so we need to come to them in their communities.”
Sandene and Ramsey were introduced to one another by a mutual friend who suggested the two longtime health care visionaries meet. A brief 30-minute meeting ended up lasting more than an hour and a half, and the rapport was evident. Sandene knew he wanted to work under Ramsey’s leadership and was certain he could come to West Virginia and make an impact.
“Dave and I hit it off from day one,” Sandene said. “He knows I am a financial person by training, but he also knows I have a deep understanding of operations, and I can help him drive strategies for the company.”
Sandene said his job is to look ahead and prepare for what’s to come.
“The leader has to create a vision that is strategy-focused in a competitive market,” he said. “It is my job to look ahead, and if there are dark clouds on the horizon, I need to be able to look over the trees and move the company forward. Our vision at Vandalia Health is that health care is going to continue to evolve through innovation and technology.”
Sandene referenced digital patient charts and AI assistance, robotic-assisted medication delivery and surgical advancements as the focus in the next evolution of health care. Vandalia Health will need to adopt innovative technology for the company to survive long term, he said.
“Our people are our most important asset, and growing our own is one of our strategies,” Sandene added. “We have a lot of nurses, residents and fellows we train, and many of the folks we train stay here.”
Last year, approximately 70% of Vandalia Health’s residents and fellows stayed within West Virginia. Because of the shortage of physicians and nurses in the state, retention is a key strategy for the long-term viability of the organization.
“We have to grow our own, and we have to ensure financial stability,” Sandene said. “We have to be able to adapt as technology moves forward and find as many synergies as possible.”
One of those, he said, is the savings that can be achieved by combining health systems. When hospitals need to purchase orthopedic implants, cardiac stents or IT systems, expenses decrease because of bulk purchases and discounts. By lowering those costs, the burden on the people served across the region goes down, too.
“We’re making health care sustainable,” Sandene said. “We’re a rural state, so you have to have partnerships and strategies that drive efficiencies across the organization. It’s not growth for growth’s sake; it’s to grow smartly.”
Chuck McGill is a freelance writer and editor living in Charleston, West Virginia.