NHRMC

Monday night, New Hanover County Commissioners decide the future of New Hanover Regional Medical Center.  Since Commissioners announced the potential sale more than a year ago, opponents have argued the county should not let go of its single most valuable asset or control of local healthcare. 

The sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center is one step closer to reality.  At its final meeting Tuesday night, the Partnership Advisory Group voted to recommend the purchase agreement, as written, for approval. 

New Hanover County Commissioners vote October 5th on whether to approve the sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health.  In advance of that vote, the county held a public hearing last night at the New Hanover County Courthouse to allow residents to voice their opinions about the sale. 

More than a billion dollars in public money could wind up under the control of an 11-member foundation board that is not overseen by the Local Government Commission – or open to the public. 

  At Monday afternoon’s meeting, New Hanover County Commissioners unanimously approved $1.3 million in CARES Act funding to create two new programs: child care support, and housing assistance. The meeting also ended with a motion not on the agenda.

With a 4 – 1 vote, New Hanover County Commissioners voted to approve a letter of intent to sell New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health. 

The Partnership Advisory Group voted unanimously on Thursday night to recommend Novant Health as the best choice for the future of the New Hanover Regional Medical Center. If the hospital Trustees and the Board of Commissioners approve, negotiations will begin on the terms of the sale. 

On Monday night Save Our Hospital, the group opposed to the sale of the medical center, held an online meeting to hear people’s concerns about the future. 

At a public hearing last night, New Hanover County Commissioners heard from those in favor and those opposed to the sale of the Regional Medical Center. This public hearing came a few days after the Partnership Advisory Group stated that it supports a sale – rather than maintaining the status quo. 

As the decision draws near on the Medical Center’s future, the Partnership Advisory Group resumed its in-person meetings last night at the Burney Center on the UNCW campus. 

A survey of 667 New Hanover County residents—commissioned by the  Save Our Hospital Group and conducted last week—shows a range of concerns about the sale of the Regional Medical Center. 

  At the June 15th meeting, New Hanover County Commissioners approved going forward with a public-private, mixed-use redevelopment of the Government Center, and heard an update from Partnership Advisory Group Co-Chair Spence Broadhurst on the future of the New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

It was 11 months ago that New Hanover County announced they were going to explore selling the Regional Medical Center.  Last week, county officials and residents heard from the top three candidates under consideration.

This Morning New Hanover County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the Partnership Advisory Group’s recommendation to focus on three potential partners for New Hanover Regional Medical Center: Atrium Health, Duke Health and Novant Health.  The vote came after some spirited debate. 

UPDATED MONDAY 10:30 am. On Monday morning, New Hanover County Commissioners voted unanimously to allow the PAG to move forward in studying three medical center proposals.  A June 22 public hearing was also scheduled.

Last week the hospital’s Board of Trustees voted in favor of that move.

The novel Coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at disproportionately high rates.   That’s according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.  

In North Carolina today, people of color face inequities that affect their health and their vulnerability to diseases like Covid-19.  CDC and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services data show that minorities now represent a disproportionate number of both Covid-19 cases and fatalities.  Social factors and implicit bias play a significant role. 

At its Thursday meeting, the Partnership Advisory Group, charged with recommending a future for New Hanover Regional Medical Center, narrowed its focus from the six submitted proposals to three it believes are worth further consideration.  

Covid-19 is hitting people of color, especially African American communities, much harder than white communities.  The impact shows up as both a higher percentage of positive cases and a higher number of deaths from the disease.  But there’s also a different kind of price that people of color are likely to pay.

Six proposals were made public last week regarding the future of New Hanover Regional Medical Center. A group opposed to selling the facility, Save Our Hospital, did not like what it saw.  WHQR’s Vince Winkel spoke with the organization’s President, Gene Merritt.

On Tuesday New Hanover County published online the six proposals it received regarding the possible future of New Hanover Regional Medical Center. County Commissioners are slated to decide on one of the proposals, or not, later this year. The proposals range from $1.25 to over $3 billion.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that based on available data, pregnant women are not at an increased risk for the novel coronavirus. But for those women who do contract the disease, only about 4 to 5% become severely ill. WHQR reports on how local OB/GYNs are handling patients during the pandemic.

The group charged with determining the future of the New Hanover Regional Medical Center is getting back to work. The last three meetings had been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday  the Partnership Advisory Group gets back together, but in a virtual way. 

Coronavirus Edition #2.  So much has changed in a week.  Many more people are working from home – or not working at all.  North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has lowered the threshold for mass gatherings from 100 to 50.  He’s ordered more business closures – gyms, movie theaters, salons.  He’s extended public school closures to May 15th. 

Widespread testing for COVID-19 is a strategy that works in the first phase of a pandemic – containment.  But that’s not where North Carolina health officials are now.  WHQR speaks with New Hanover Regional Medical Center Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Kamitsuka about what this mitigation phase means. 

The New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s Physician Group has implemented some operational changes to protect patients, staff, and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The deadline for proposals for the future of New Hanover Regional Medical Center was yesterday. Six organizations submitted their pitches. Now the County’s Partnership Advisory Group will start the review process. WHQR’s Vince Winkel sat down with Medical Center President and CEO John Gizdic, to discuss the range of options being considered for the future.

Two weeks from this coming Monday, proposals for a sale, partnership or merger with New Hanover Regional Medical Center are due. The Partnership Advisory Group, a team assembled by the County to explore the future of NHRMC, will then begin the process of going through hundreds of pages sent in from interested parties. Almost a dozen organizations may be interested in some sort of arrangement.

New Hanover Regional Medical Center is the third-largest county-owned hospital in the country.  As medical costs continue to rise and political and financial uncertainties loom, NHRMC is exploring the best path forward – whether that’s a sale, a merger, or a reorganization.  On this week’s CoastLine, we explored the process.