While the doors to Martin General Hospital may be shuttered, there is still a breath of life in the possibility the hospital may one day open as a Rural Emergency Hospital (REH).
Currently, steps are being taken in that direction.
That message was presented to the Martin County Commissioners last Thursday evening at a special meeting. Ascendient Healthcare Provider CEO Dawn Carter outlined the steps Ascendient and the county have taken to increase an MGH re-designation and reopening as an REH.
Carter pointed out reestablishing healthcare in the county was not an overnight task.
“As a reminder of what we shared with you in January, we identified three essential questions that we have to have answered before we search for a new operator for the hospital and issue an RFP to begin that process,” she said.
The questions are, can the hospital reopen as an REH, what would need to be done to accomplish the reopening and, finally, what are the financial needs and funding options to make that happen.
“The good news is tonight we have an answer to the first question. The Center for Medicare, Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), have confirmed that we can reopen a closed hospital as a Rural Emergency Hospital,” said Carter. “Unless somebody jumps the gun on this, this will be the first hospital eligible to be an REH that reopens from being a closed hospital.”
The process still offers challenges. Figuring out new regulations for a closed hospital to reopen as a Rural Emergency Hospital took a substantial amount of time and energy.
The second step, having the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) evaluate the property, is underway.
“NCDHHS is the agency that actually determines what the building needs and physically approves the building, and they have to apply both the state regulations as well as those federal regulations to the building,” explained Carter. “So we are in the process of working with them to understand any updates that the building might need before reopening.”
Last week, officials from NCDHHS did a preliminary walk through of the building.
“The purpose of the visit was threefold. Number one, we wanted to familiarize them with our thoughts on how we can use that building as a rural emergency hospital and sort of get them on board with that plan,” Carter said. “Have them do the walkthrough and identify any questions that they may have about does it meet this or that requirement. The third thing as a result of that is to identify any updates we might have to undertake. We feel like the visit was a great start.”
Commissioner Skip Gurganus was encouraged by the report, but surprised at the time it takes to proceed.
“I want this as bad as we all want this to happen in a hurry. I honestly thought that it wouldn't be a big deal. It wouldn't be hard to do. And I don't have much knowledge in this, but Dawn’s and Ben's knowledge would fill this room about the complexity of this thing,” he said. “It’s just there are a lot of hurdles. I believe it with my whole heart as long as it's been and as frustrating as it has been and continues to be, were it not for the lady standing in front of you here, along with Ben and Tom Stokes, and the help of our state and federal officials, we would be in about the same place we were a month after it closed. And I believe that with my whole heart.
“I'm telling you that these people are, they're working as hard as they can to make this happen,” he continued. “And everybody at the state and federal level is doing everything they can to help them. It is just a huge, huge machine to crank and get moving. A lot harder than I thought it would be.”
Carter could not offer a timeline since NCDHHS is cataloging what needs to be done and reviewing the next steps in order for the building to meet REH requirements.
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