About one-sixth of Vidant’s patients are covered by Medicaid, which typically pays lower rates than commercial insurers fully half of Vidant’s patients are covered by Medicare, which also tends to reimburse at a lower rate. The move also comes just days before North Carolina’s Medicaid program transitions from a state-run system to one run by private managed care insurance companies. Hospital and university leaders say the planned consolidation will allow both organizations to “build on combined strength,” leveraging each other to create a stronger regional health care enterprise in years to come. In contrast, in the six months prior to March 2020, the Vidant system operated deeply in the red, with a 9 percent negative margin. In the six months prior to March of this year, the system ran well in the black, posting an operating margin of 17 percent, according to financial statements filed to the U.S. The move towards increased partnership comes during auspicious times for the hospital, which endured the same operating challenges from COVID-19 faced by other rural hospital systems across the country. “Instead, this decision represents a step toward realizing our full potential together in providing access to advanced care for all of eastern North Carolina through ‘ECU Health’ or a similarly branded academic health system.” “Today, there is no transfer of assets or change in anyone’s employment status,” said Rogers. The system is composed of nine hospitals with about 1,700 beds and employs more than 13,000 in the state.ĭespite the ultimate goal of the partnership being full clinical integration under a new brand, university and hospital officials said at a press conference Wednesday that there will be no immediate financial impact on either organization. The appointment will place Waldrum, an internist with training in business, at the head of both Vidant Health and the Brody School of Medicine, the first step and what ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers said was a step towards creating a “clinically integrated academic health system for our region that proudly leverages the ECU brand.”Īccording to its most recent reports, the Vidant Health system claims more than 1.4 million patients across 29 counties in eastern North Carolina.

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Vidant looks to tie future more closely to ECU - NC Health News Close

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