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Carolinas HealthCare to manage Stanly Regional
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Published: January 28, 2009
Updated: 01/28/2009 04:21 pm
ALBEMARLE - Carolinas HealthCare System will take over management of Stanly Regional Medical Center in Albemarle effective March 1.
The hospital, which employs more than 1,000 people, will keep its board of directors and its CEO, Al Taylor. It will be the ninth hospital in North and South Carolina that CHS manages.
Taylor said this is different from a merger in that the local board of directors will keep ownership of hospital's assets and property and will maintain its decision-making power.
"The board has been looking at this strategically," Taylor said. "In the last several years, the board has been looking for a partnership in response to what is going around us."
In the past two years, CHS and its competitor in the Charlotte metro region, Novant Health, have been expanding territory up the Interstate 85 corridor. CMC-NorthEast in Concord merged with CHS in 2007, while Rowan Regional Medical Center in Salisbury merged with Novant last year.
Stanly Regional and CHS have been strategic partners since 2007. They jointly developed Stanly Regional West in Locust with diagnostic imaging and primary care services. Some of Stanly Regional's physicians are also affiliated with CHS.
Spokesman Ben Jolly said the board of directors went through an open process while learning about management contracts.
"Every employee received a letter from the board, telling them they were going through this process," Jolly said.
CHS spokesman Scott White said partnering with CHS would give the Albemarle hospital better access to cheaper purchasing agreements on medical supplies and more clout with insurance companies to negotiate better reimbursement contracts.
"We'll hire the executive officers and manage the hospital on behalf of the board," White said. "That gives the board access to management expertise that we have, plus resources they may not have access to."
John Lowder, chairman of the board at Stanly Regional, said this was a "fantastic opportunity" for Stanly Regional to enter into.
"I think the community has seen what's gone on around us," he said. "As the rules change, our situation has to change and they have and expectation for us to be the best medical center we can be."
Lowder said the board would pay CHS a percentage fee for its management services, but did not have the numbers in front him and could not quote financial details of the deal.
The state Health Service Regulation office denied a request in December from CHS and Stanly Regional to build a reha-bilitation hospital in Concord.
Carolinas Rehabilitation-NorthEast, as the proposed hospital would be called, would offer 40 rehab beds in a 55,000 square-foot facility on the campus os CMC-NorthEast. Stanly Regional would offer 10 beds, along with 10 beds from Carolinas Rehabilitation Hospital and 20 beds from CMC-Mercy, both in Charlotte.
The state, through its certificate-of-need process, said CHS and Stanly Regional did not adequately demonstrate a need. The partners have appealed the state's decision — which triggers a 270-day administrative process.
• Contact reporter Ben McNeely: 704-789-9131
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