Greenville, N.C.-based East Carolina University Health has revealed its plan to reopen Williamston, N.C.-based Martin General Hospital as North Carolina’s first rural emergency hospital.
The news comes after Martin County (N.C.) officials signed a nonbinding proposal with ECU Health in mid-May for the development after the county’s board of commissioners voted in early January to lease or sell the hospital, which shut down Aug. 3, 2023, after it sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
“We are pleased to have received a strong proposal from ECU Health, an organization that understands the unique challenges and opportunities of rural healthcare delivery,” Joe Ayers, chair of the Martin County board of commissioners, said in an update on the county’s website. “ECU Health has demonstrated experience in revitalizing healthcare facilities and shares our vision for implementing a rural emergency hospital model to establish essential services to our community.”
ECU Health’s 338-page proposal details plans to reopen the shuttered facility as an REH with emergency care and outpatient services. It would also make Washington, N.C.-based ECU Health Beaufort Hospital the primary site for inpatient care. If the deal is finalized, this would be the first closed acute care hospital to reopen as a REH in the nation, the proposal said.
Under the proposal, state financial support is also requested to help transition the REH to a “newly-constructed rural care center” due to its age and to aid in the expansion and modernization of ECU Health Beaufort Hospital’s inpatient capacity, according to a May 23 ECU Health statement shared with Becker’s.
“We envision the Martin REH integrating into the ECU Health operational structure similar to other ECU Health community hospitals, whereby a local management team would oversee day-to-day operations of the facility, reporting to the President of ECU Health Community Hospitals,” the ECU Health proposal said. “Through this reporting structure, the community hospitals integrate into the operations of the clinical enterprise which is overseen by ECU Health’s COO and includes the operations of ECU Health Medical Center, ECU Health Physicians, Information Services, Nursing Operations, and Human Resources.”
A public hearing on ECU Health’s vision for Martin General will be held June 4 at 7 p.m. EDT at the Martin County Governmental Center’s commissioners boardroom in Williamston.
