Greenville, N.C.-based ECU Health signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Martin County (N.C.) on July 31 to move forward with a shared vision of restoring essential healthcare services in the area after the county’s board of commissioners approved the agreement on July 30.
“While the non-binding letter of intent represents an important milestone, there are many complex rural healthcare challenges that must be solved to make the proposed rural health care model a reality in Martin County,” ECU Health and Martin County said in a joint statement shared with Becker’s. “These challenges include navigating new federal health care legislation as well as securing vital public funding needed to build a long-term, sustainable regional system of care.”
The news comes after ECU Health shared plans in late May to reopen Williamston, N.C.-based Martin General Hospital as the state’s first rural emergency hospital. The plan would also make Martin General, which closed Aug. 3, 2023, after it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the nation’s first hospital to reopen under an REH model.
Andy Zukowski, ECU Health CFO, said during a Becker’s CFO+Revenue Cycle Podcast episode that several elements are required to create this sustainable model.
“We’re advocating for investment from the state in terms of capital and changes to how the rural emergency hospital is reimbursed for Medicaid,” he said. “This rural emergency hospital will [also] be part of a broader system of care that includes a proposed expansion of a hospital and close proximity that would allow us to have inpatient capacity to transfer patients from the rural emergency hospital when needed.”
In mid-May, Martin County officials also signed a nonbinding agreement with ECU Health following a January vote to sell or lease Martin General. ECU Health’s 338-page proposal detailed plans for the REH to offer emergency and outpatient services, while inpatient care would be directed to Washington, N.C.-based ECU Health Beaufort Hospital.
“We’re advocating for a total of $220 million from the state to really help establish the rural care center, which will house this rural emergency hospital, as well as expand and renovate that hospital to really support Martin County and the four other counties in the region,” Mr. Zukowski said.
Mr. Zukowski said ECU Health is continuing to work with the county and state to move the process along. He also sees this initiative as a model to help revitalize rural healthcare.
“This is the future as we see it in rural North Carolina,” he said.
