ECU Health, Martin County team up in historic effort to reopen shuttered hospital

Martin General Hospital unexpectedly shut its doors in August 2023. Two years later, ECU Health and Martin County are teaming up to breathe new life into the facility.

The Martin County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the signing of a non-binding letter of intent to re-open Martin General Hospital as a rural emergency hospital (REH).

The designation would allow for the emergency room to reopen, so long as the average patient stay doesn’t exceed 24 hours.

Martin County Attorney Ben Eisner told WRAL the goal is to reimagine health care in Martin County, and the entire region.

“The concept is most of the first floor could be reimagined as a rural emergency hospital,” he said. “It’s just a matter of matching up what we’re allowed to do with what a provider might want to do.”

If Martin General reopens as a REH, it would be the first of its kind in the state. It would also mark a first in the country as no hospital has ever closed entirely before reopening as a REH.

Eisner said reaching this step is a big achievement for the county given the facility’s history but acknowledged more challenges lay ahead.

“There was a bankruptcy case, there was a medical records issue, then there were federal questions about whether we could open up as a REH, there’s Medicaid reimbursement,” Eisner listed. “Every roadblock and every obstacle, it’s gone over, around, under, and through it the best it can.”

The hospital sits in Williamston, a town of roughly 5,200 people in a county of about 22,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, every summer those numbers change by the thousands as the hospital sits right along a popular route people take to visit the Outer Banks every year.

Williamston Mayor Dean McCall described his emotions about ECU Health coming to the table as “cautiously optimistic, but positive.”

“We’d like to speed up the timeline if at all possible, but the fact that ECU Health has come to the table, we’re very satisfied with that,” the mayor told WRAL.

WRAL previously reported on the widespread impact the closure had on the region.

Michael Peaks, chief of the Williamston Fire-Rescue-EMS, explained the sudden closure of the hospital significantly increased response times and created additional challenges for emergency crews responding to calls.

“Without Martin General not being an option that has certainly increased our patient-contact time.” Peaks said at the time. “Prior to Martin General closing, our average transport time was 5 minutes 38 seconds. Today, our average transport time is 19 minutes 56 seconds.”

The closure impacted every employee at Martin General who were suddenly left without a place to work.

“It had a direct impact on my family,” shared Martin County Manager Dean Batts. “My wife was working in the operating room as the operating room nursing manager at Martin General when it shut down.”

Batts’ wife’s commute is now roughly 35 minutes one way to continue providing care to those in need.

“It definitely had an impact like that for many people in the community, and we’re losing a lot of people from Martin County for that reason,” said Batts.

Allowing employees like Batts’ wife to return to provide care in Williamston would also generate a greatly needed financial boost for the area.

“People focus as a healthcare only conversation, but the truth is ECU Health is a major economic driver in the eastern part of the state,” stated Eisner. “This is a really big potential deal for eastern North Carolina in general.”

McCall further emphasized the ripple effect reopening the currently closed hospital doors would have.

“Even businesses and industries looking to come here need to know that the healthcare system is intact, that the education system is there, that the real estate market is there,” he said. “It is multi-factorial.”

In a joint statement from ECU Health and Martin County, those behind the proposal tell WRAL reopening the hospital is a partnership aimed at creating “a brighter future for the people of Martin County.”

The statement further read, “While the non-binding letter of intent represents an important milestone, there are many complex rural health care challenges that must be solved to make the proposed rural health care model a reality in Martin County. These challenges include navigating new federal health care legislation as well as securing vital public funding needed to build a long-term, sustainable regional system of care.”

Officials thanked state and federal leaders for supporting vulnerable populations in North Carolina, writing, “Together, we will continue to advocate for solutions that will make our shared vision possible, including capital investment from the state to strengthen the proposed regional system of care model and changes to Rural Emergency Hospital reimbursement to ensure the long-term sustainability of services.”

The UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center tracks hospital closures and REH conversions nationwide. Data shows the REH model has been used 42 times nationwide since January 2023 to allow some level of emergency care to remain in rural areas.