Health-care Veteran Ruse Joins OHIC Board

Columbus, Ohio-based medical liability insurer OHIC Insurance Co. named former health-care administrator Bill Ruse to its board of directors.

Ruse retired as president of the Blanchard Valley Health Association in 2001 after serving 36 years as its president and CEO. During his tenure at Blanchard Valley, it grew from a single hospital in Findlay, Ohio, to acute care facilities in Findlay and Bluffton and 25 percent ownership of a Lima hospital.

It is Ruse’s second term on the OHIC board. He was one of OHIC’s original members when the company was formed in March 1978. He served on the board until its sale to Healthcare Underwriters Mutual in 1997. Ruse said he looks forward to a second term on the OHIC board, noting the company plays a vital role in the state’s health-care system.

Among his various board activities, Ruse is a member of the Ohio Patient Safety Institute, the Ohio Research Foundation of the Ohio Hospital Association, and the Ohio Northern University Pharmacy Advisory Board. Last year, Ruse was appointed by Gov. Robert Taft to the Ohio Workforce Policy Board.

OHIC was founded in 1978 as the Ohio Hospital Insurance Co. with the mission of supplying Ohio hospitals with affordable medical liability insurance. The company later became the OHIC Insurance Co. and is now a subsidiary of the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Co. of New York City. OHIC now supplies medical liability insurance to physicians and hospitals in Ohio.