After five years of growing partnership, the Ohio State Board of Trustees unanimously approved the acquisition of Harding Hospital, a psychiatric hospital based in Worthington, making it a part of the OSU Neuropsychiatric Hospital at 1670 Upham Drive.Harding Hospital was controlled since 1916 by the Harding family, whose predecessors include President Warren G. Harding. The hospital is a leading behavioral health and outpatient network center.Since 1995, OSU and Harding have been working under a joint operating agreement that created one clinical, academic, administrative and managed care structure. With the merger on Aug. 1, the Harding Medical Center Board of Trustees was replaced entirely by the OSU Board of Trustees.R. Reed Fraley, executive director of OSU Hospitals, said that the joint venture was first proposed in 1995 to improve services and lower costs through the reduction of duplication and the expansion of the delivery network.”The integration of clinical services and collaboration between hospitals has gone well during the past few years,” Fraley said. “With a more complete and integrated operating arrangement, we have the potential to further develop the behavioral health program by strengthening our services while achieving additional efficiencies.”The university plans to build more on the 50 acres that Harding Hospital lies on.An independent hospital, Harding in part decided to merge with a larger medical center due to financial vulnerability in a field controlled by managed-care companies. Dr. George Harding, a member of the OSU Harding Hospital board, said that the pressures from managed-care organizations and other authorities to decrease cost has placed pressure on all hospitals, but particularly on freestanding, smaller psychiatric hospitals.Harding Hospital accepted a loan from OSU, and the equity acquired from the loans made Ohio State a partner. No money was exchanged due to the full merger.According to Dr. S. R. Thorward, Harding president and chief operating officer for the joint venture, the partnership improved clinical care and proved cost efficient.”With the recent addition of OSU Hospitals East to University Hospitals’ network, we’ll expand to seven the number of sites in the Columbus area where the public can receive behavioral health care from OSU/Harding providers,” Thorward said.Dr. Harding agrees. “Harding’s fine tradition of caring for patients will carry on for many years to come and be nurtured in an environment that combines exceptional talent and resources of Harding and Ohio State,” he said. Harding also believes that his late grandfather, George Harding II, who founded the hospital, and George Harding III, who ran the hospital for more than 40 years, would have agreed with the decision.Harding is a member of the OSU psychiatric faculty, as are several other psychiatrists at Harding Hospital.OSU and Harding have also worked together on other projects. In 1994, the OSU Medical Center opened a MedOhio Family Care Center on the Harding campus, and in 1995 Harding and OSU combined their independent residency programs in order to provide psychiatrists with a more thorough learning experience.