Haywood Regional and WestCare hospitals still looking at working with Mission, other big hospitals

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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The Southern Highland Reader gives us the update:

SYLVA–In September of 2008, citing a struggling economy and the challenges associated with providing community health care, WestCare Health System of Sylva and Haywood Regional Medical Center of Waynesville chose to work together to evaluate the options of affiliations with larger health care networks.

They signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October to formalize this agreement and sent out the Requests for Proposals in December.

On January 31, two comprehensive proposals were received from Carolinas Healthcare System and Mission Health System. Novant Health chose not to submit a proposal.

Each proposal is now being reviewed by the consultants for presentation to the Joint Study Committee meeting on February 16. The committee will look over the proposals and report back to the Boards of both hospitals.

After a period of stringent review, the Boards of WestCare Health System and Haywood Regional will jointly decide whether to negotiate with one of the systems or, at their option, to turn down both proposals.

Mark Leonard, CEO of WestCare states, “Although we are bound by confidentiality agreements to not give out details of the proposals, we will continue to let the community know about the evaluation process and where we are in it.”