ECU and Vidant Health join forces to improve health care in rural North Carolina
East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine and Vidant Health will operate under one roof as ECU Health to improve access to and quality of health care to rural North Carolinians.
The ECU Board of Trustees approved the joint operating agreement last week and the deal was officially and unanimously approved UNC System Board of Governors Thursday.
“This is a monumental day for health care in eastern North Carolina,” Board of Governors Chair Randy Ramsey said at the meeting.
The Greenville university and hospital system expect this collaboration to “more effectively and efficiently” address the health disparities and care delivery obstacles in the eastern part of the state, ECU’s announcement said. They also hope to better anticipate future health care and educational needs, it said.
Under this agreement, the Brody School of Medicine and Vidant Health will remain separate legal entities, but will function collaboratively as ECU Health starting Jan. 1, 2022. Their goal is to become a national academic model for providing rural health care.
Nearly a quarter of Eastern North Carolinians reported their health as “poor or fair” compared to about 17% of citizens in the rest of the state, according to a 2017 ECU health report. And the premature mortality in the state’s eastern counties is among the worst in the nation.
The Vidant hospital system serves more than 1.4 million people in 29 counties. Leaders hope this collaboration enhances that care and makes it more accessible.
“The agreement represents an important milestone in the long-standing affiliation between two entities bound by the same mission as we work toward the creation of ECU Health,” ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers said in a statement.
He said it marks the beginning of their efforts to launch a clinically integrated academic health system.
Integrating ECU and Vidant Health
Rogers took the first step of the integration process in June when he appointed Vidant CEO Dr. Michael Waldrum as dean of the Brody School of Medicine.
Waldrum serves as the senior academic and administrative officer for the medical school, overseeing the academic and research programs. Dr. Jason Higginson, who was the interim dean, serves as the executive dean and oversees the operational aspects of the medical school.
That move aligned the leadership of Vidant Health and the Brody School of Medicine, but the positions of power have been connected for years.
In 2019, the UNC System sued Vidant Health because it was trying to kick the university system out of the process of choosing members of the hospital’s governing board, The News & Observer previously reported.
The months-long legal battle between university, government and healthcare officials ended with a settlement agreement and new terms for appointing board members. They deal gives the ECU chancellor and medical school dean two seats to fill on the 20-person board. A Vidant Board of Trustees nominating committee fills seven seats that are approved by the UNC System Board of Governors. Pitt County leaders appoint the remaining 11 seats.
The deal also further integrated the leadership and assessed the financial relationship between Vidant and ECU.
At the time, campus leaders applauded the structural alignment and the shared mission of becoming a national model for rural health care.
Now, that mission will be even more closely tied as the two organizations join forces to become ECU Health.
ECU Health will streamline healthcare services
This rebranding “further signals and strengthens our commitment to bring the best research, doctors and care to the East,” Waldrum said in a statement.
Most of Vidant Health’s medical centers, Vidant Medical Group and ECU Physicians will rebrand to ECU Health starting in January. The Brody School of Medicine’s name will not change.
There will be no changes to the employment status or benefits of current employees, and no assets are exchanged under the joint operating agreement that’s awaiting further approval.
The new integrated entity will be able to operate more efficiently under a shared leadership and governance structure, reduce costs and use available clinical staff, regardless of who employs them.
ECU Health will also use Vidant’s and the university’s strengths to advance the research and education infrastructure and coordinate philanthropy.
“Our mission has not and will not change. How we execute the mission is what is at issue,” executive dean Higginson said in a statement. “We are going to be looking at areas where efficiencies can be built into our process and where value can be added to what we’re doing to improve the final outcome.”
The deal was also approved by the Vidant Health Board of Directors, Vidant Medical Center Board of Trustees and the Pitt County Board of Commissioners this week.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 1:56 PM.
