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OVP HEALTH LEADERSHIP

Thanks to the leadership of company founders Dr. Robert Hess and Dr. Stephen Shy, as well as the energy and vision of CEO Stacey Shy, OVP HEALTH has grown to become an employer of nearly 300 caring individuals, and a vital and dynamic force in the ever-changing healthcare landscape.

Though OVP HEALTH has grown significantly since its founding more than 20 years ago, our mission and focus on community and health improvement remain grounded in the values of our leaders — past and present — who continue to push the company forward each and every day.

ROBERT A. HESS, MD
Co-Founder & President

Robert A. Hess, MD, is the co-founder and president of OVP HEALTH. He graduated from Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in 1984. He then completed an internship at Riverside Methodist Hospital, in Columbus, OH, in 1985, and a residency in Family Medicine at Riverside Methodist in 1987.

Dr. Hess later joined Huntington Internal Medicine Group, or HIMG, where, in 1992, he became president of the large physician practice. While president, HIMG acquired the practice of Dr. Stephen Shy, who then joined the HIMG Board of Directors. A few years later, a need arose for management of physician staffing at Lawrence County General Hospital, in Ironton, Ohio, where Dr. Hess and Dr. Shy saw an opportunity to create a physician staffing company called Ohio Valley Physicians.

Ohio Valley Physicians, now called OVP HEALTH, grew to become a company managing the emergency departments and hospitalist functions at several regional hospitals, including Holzer Medical Center facilities in Gallipolis, Jackson and Pomeroy, OH; Ohio Health O’Bleness Hospital, in Athens, OH; Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, in Cambridge, OH; and Buchanan General Hospital in Grundy, Virginia. OVP HEALTH also grew to offer a very successful CARF-accredited addiction treatment program in more than two dozen locations across West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and South Carolina. And in the Fall of 2020, the company will open a new, 62-bed inpatient treatment facility in South Point, OH, for patients suffering from addiction.

Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Robert Hess, OVP HEALTH has grown to become an important and dynamic force in the healthcare landscape of the Tri-State area.

 

STACEY SHY
Chief Executive Officer

Stacey Shy is the chief executive officer (CEO) of OVP HEALTH, a position he has held since joining the company in 2006. The son of OVP HEALTH co-founder, Stephen Shy, DO, Stacey was an all-state football and baseball player at Buffalo-Wayne High School, where he graduated in 1992.

Stacey attended Northern Kentucky University, Marshall University and Coastal Carolina University, where he graduated from the golf management program. After working for several years at golf courses in South Carolina, Stacey moved on to PGA School, and later became the head golf professional at Spring Valley Country Club, where he worked from 1999 to 2006.

Under Stacey’s leadership, OVP HEALTH has enjoyed significant growth in its inpatient and outpatient service lines; it’s seen its geographic footprint expand throughout West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia; and it is strongly positioned for even greater growth in the future. But despite the company’s outstanding growth and success, Stacey remains focused on the core values of family, community and health improvement, upon which his father and Dr. Robert Hess founded the company in 1999.

 

PAUL E. COWSAR, RN, APRN
Chief Operations Officer

Known for his exceptional capacity to multi-task, and his demonstrated ability to lead and motivate outstanding healthcare teams, Paul E. Cowsar, RN, APRN, is the chief operations officer of OVP HEALTH and the chief executive officer of the non-profit, OVP HEALTH CARE. He received his bachelor of science in nursing degree and his master of science in nursing degree from University of South Alabama.

Paul has extensive experience in the medical field, serving in such positions as a paramedic, registered nurse, flight nurse, emergency staff nurse and emergency nurse practitioner. Prior to becoming chief operations officer at OVP HEALTH in 2017, Paul was the vice president of clinical service for the company over the previous five years.

A family nurse practitioner certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FNP-BC) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ACNP-BC), Paul has also earned certifications in Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS), Pediatric Advance Life Support (PALS), and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE).

 

Nick Alexander, MBA
Vice President, Business Development

Nick Alexander is the vice president of business development at OVP HEALTH, leading the company’s growth and development efforts in acquiring new hospital partners and providers for emergency department and hospitalist services. Nick came to OVP HEALTH in early 2019, after serving in leadership positions at Adena Health System in Chillicothe, OH, for nearly eight years — most recently as vice president of operations.

Nick earned a master of business administration (MBA) degree in Healthcare Management from Liberty University, in Lynchburg, VA.

 

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to meet the health care needs of the residents of our service area by providing a continuum of health care services that enable residents to improve their health status. All of our services are provided in a warm, comfortable environment that is patient centered and sensitive to the values that exist in our communities.

Contact OVP

Corporate Office: 300-B Eighth Street,
Suite 201 Huntington, WV 25701

For specific office contact details,
please refer to our locations.