LUMBERTON — Southeastern Health, headquartered in Lumberton since its beginning in 1906, has joined UNC Health and will become known as UNC Health Southeastern.
The agreement was announced Wednesday morning by officials with the two health care organizations in Lumberton and Chapel Hill. UNC Health bills itself as the leading public academic health-care system with 11 hospitals and hundreds of clinics throughout the state.
Southeastern will become the 12th hospital.
The move will become final later in the year following approvals from each organization’s governing boards, and standard regulatory review, a release from SE Health says.
In a release, Southeastern trustees chairman Kenneth Rust said, “The Southeastern Board of Trustees set out to find a partner who can help make health care even better for the people we serve. Importantly, UNC Health shares our values and commitment to providing quality, compassionate and strong local health care, making a long-term regional partnership a natural fit for both organizations.”
According to its website, “Southeastern Health is licensed for 452 beds and includes Southeastern Regional Medical Center, a DNV GL – Healthcare accredited hospital which offers a combination of acute care, intensive care and psychiatric services to more than 15,000 inpatients and 61,000 emergency patients annually. The medical center is licensed for 292 general acute care beds and 33 psychiatry beds. WoodHaven Nursing, Alzheimer’s and Rehabilitation Center is licensed for 115 beds and Southeastern Hospice House is licensed for 12 beds.”
The health system has a Bladen County location in Southeastern Health Center Clarkton.
UNC Health, according to its website, has more than 3,200 UNC Health physicians, and 350 clinics.
SE Health said reaching agreement with UNC Health positions the system to be even stronger regionally. Other hospital systems nearby to Bladen County include Cape Fear Valley Health, the parent organization to Bladen County Hospital in Elizabethtown, and Novant Health, which recently entered a purchase agreement of New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.
In its release, Southeastern said it would benefit “from the scale and expertise of UNC Health in areas such as clinical and organizational development initiatives, purchasing agreements” and access to clinical and operational subject matter experts.
In the Southeastern release, UNC Health CEO Dr. Wesley Burks said, “We have tremendous respect for Southeastern Health. We admire what they are doing to advance health care in rural North Carolina and look forward to achieving even more together to improve the health and wellness of the communities Southeastern serves. UNC Health knows the value of partnering with rural and community hospitals to keep care local by expanding access to health-care providers and services close to home. Formally aligning with Southeastern Health is a natural fit and advances our mission of serving all North Carolinians.”
Joann Anderson, the president and CEO of Southeastern, said 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.”
Anderson said more details have to be worked out for the partnership.
“As this work continues,” she said in the release, “Southeastern Health remains focused on delivering on its mission to provide quality regional healthcare in a safe, compassionate and efficient environment.”
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