Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, N.C., is considering a partnership with Greenville, N.C.-based Vidant Health, according to a WNCT 9 report.
Steve Lawler, president of Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, told WNCT the hospital and Onslow County would partner with Vidant under the proposed partnership agreement. An Onslow Memorial spokeswoman said she couldn't give any details because of a non-disclosure agreement, according to the report.
The 162-bed Onslow Memorial began a search for a partner earlier this year to help it overcome various fiscal challenges. The community hospital sent out seven requests for proposal to potential partners whose identities were not been disclosed, according to a report from The Daily News. Pressures such as sequestration cuts, North Carolina's decision not to expand its Medicaid program, the cost of maintaining biomedical equipment and increasing bad debt in conjunction with the rise of high-deductible health plans have financially strained the hospital.
Meanwhile, Vidant agreed last week to form a shared services operating company with two other North Carolina health systems — Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem and Raleigh-based WakeMed Health & Hospitals. Under the agreement, the three organizations will remain independent while gaining benefits of scale.