ECU Health’s REH model could reshape rural healthcare – Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News

In late May, Greenville, N.C.-based ECU Health shared its plan 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 (N.C.) officials 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.