WILMINGTON — The Partnership Advisory Group steering the exploration of a potential sale or new partnership for the New Hanover Regional Medical Center has approved a Request For Proposals and a lengthy list of healthcare companies that may be interested (or have already expressed interest.
The Partnership Advisory Group (PAG) finalized an earlier draft of the Request for Proposals (RFP), which lays out a series of questions, asking interesting parties how they would support “10 goals and objectives that tie to the mission, values and strategic plan of NHRMC as well as the corresponding public health mission and strategic plan of New Hanover County,” according to New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC).
The RFP will be sent to 29 organizations on Monday, January 13. Any interested party (including those not already identified) will have 60 days until the March 16 deadline to respond.
North Carolina statute regulating public hospital sales requires the RFP be sent to at least five parties, but the PAG identified at 29 organizations.
This include 16 parties that reached out to the PAG to express interest:
- Atrium Health
- Bon Secours Mercy Health
- Citi on behalf of Vidant Health
- Cone Health
- Duke Health
- Flagstone Heritage
- HCA Healthcare
- Hospital Acquisition Services
- Juniper Advisory
- LifePoint Health
- Novant Health
- Optum
- Pontus Capital
- Sentara Healthcare
- UNC Health Care
- Universal Health Services (UHS).
The PAG also decided to contact 13 other organizations:
- Advocate Health Care
- BlueCross Blue Shield of North Carolina
- Carilion Clinic
- Cleveland Clinic
- Geisinger
- Google/Ascension
- Haven
- Intermountain Healthcare
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Kaiser Permanente
- Mayo Clinic
- Trinity Health
- WakeMed.
These 29 companies may choose to issue a proposal but are not required to; other companies not on this list may also submit a proposal — so this should not be taken as the final list.
Next steps
During the next two months, the PAG will turn to the consider options for “alternative governance structures and other options for remaining independent, including remaining a stand-alone county-owned public hospital,” according to NHRMC.
Information on past meetings, including presentations, documents, minutes, and streamable meeting audio can be found here. Future meeting locations, times, and dates can be found here.
Information about the PAG members can be found here, and the group as a whole can be contacted at PAGcomments@NHgov.com.
Visit NHRMCFuture.org to read the full RFP, see and hear presentations and discussions, find a calendar of public meetings, and sign-up for email updates. The public can also email the Advisory Group at PAGComments@nhcgov.com.
