Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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10 UCW NOVEMBER 11-17, 2020 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM NEWS Southeastern Health and UNC agree to align by AMANDA CRABTREE Southeastern Health and UNC Health recently announced the ap- proval of a non-binding Letter of Intent for the two organizations to enter into a long-term comprehensive Management Services Agreement. e move signifies commitment to long-term regional partnership and important work to advance quality of care and increase access to healthcare services in Robeson County and the surrounding region. e proposed agreement will culminate in Southeastern Health becoming the 12th member of the UNC Health system and will closely align the organizations as they work together to enhance quality and en- sure strong access to healthcare in the region. Southeastern Health intends to co-brand with UNC Health as UNC Health Southeastern. UNC Health is North Carolina's leading public aca- demic healthcare system and includes 11 hospitals and hundreds of clinics throughout the state. "e Southeastern Board of Trust- ees set out to find a partner who can help make healthcare even better for the people we serve," said Ken- neth Rust, chair of the Southeast- ern Healthealth Board of Trustees. "Importantly, UNC Health shares our values and commitment to providing quality, compassionate and strong local healthcare, making a long-term regional partnership a natural fit for both organizations." Aligning with North Carolina's leading public academic health system will allow Southeastern Health to become an even stronger regional healthcare leader, providing enhanced opportunities to recruit and retain additional highly-skilled physicians and other caregivers to the area, maintain and grow the ser- vices Southeastern offers today while keeping care local, and positively impacting the health and wellbeing of the communities it serves. South- eastern will benefit from the scale and expertise of UNC Health in areas such as clinical and organizational development initiatives, purchasing agreements, access to clinical and operational subject matter experts, and more. "We have tremendous respect for Southeastern Health. We admire what they are doing to advance healthcare in rural North Carolina and look for- ward to achieving even more together to improve the health and wellness of the communities Southeastern serves," said Dr. Wesley Burks, CEO of UNC Health. "UNC Health knows the value of partnering with rural and community hospitals to keep care lo- cal by expanding access to healthcare providers and services close to home. Formally aligning with Southeastern Health is a natural fit and advances our mission of serving all North Caro- linians." Over the course of Southeastern Health's deliberate and thorough pro- cess it became clear that UNC Health was the natural and best fit for the organization. Of particular interest to the Board was UNC Health's strides in rural healthcare and population health throughout North Carolina. "UNC Health has a deep under- standing of rural healthcare and the challenges associated with deliver- ing care in that environment," said Southeastern Health President and CEO, Joann Anderson. "In the past decade, UNC Health has partnered with smaller hospitals across the state to improve care in those regions and we look forward to working very closely with them here in our part of the state." Importantly, Southeastern will ben- efit from UNC Health's existing popu- lation health management strategy and commitment to addressing health disparities with innovative, patient- centered solutions. "While this is an exciting milestone, we still have more work to do on the details of the pro- posed comprehensive Management Services Agreement," said Anderson. "As this work continues, Southeastern Health remains focused on deliver- ing on its mission to provide quality regional healthcare in a safe, compas- sionate and efficient environment." Signing the non-binding LOI is an important step in the process for Southeastern Health to move toward aligning with UNC Health. Pending further Board approvals and standard regulatory review, the organizations hope to finalize the agreement later this year. e names of Southeastern Health's locations like the SeHealth Main Campus pictured will continue and will be co-branded to reflect the part- nership with UNC Health. AMANDA CRABTREE, MPA-HA, Southeastern Health. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910- 484-6200. SHIP GIFTS EARLY! 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