December 15, 2005 - North Carolina's Brunswick County Hospital Authority announced today that it has chosen Novant Health for a long-term lease of Brunswick Community Hospital, which will join the health system over the next three months.

BCH is located in Supply, NC and Brunswick County, along the state's southeastern coastal region near Wilmington. The county is considered one of the fastest growing areas in the Carolinas. Novant Health is a not-for-profit North Carolina health system based in Winston-Salem and Charlotte. Novant currently consists of eight hospitals, including Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews, Presbyterian Hemby Children's Hospital and Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital. It also consists of 114 clinics staffed by 513 physicians, two nursing homes and 30 outpatient centers offering diagnostic testing, ambulatory surgery and rehabilitation services.

Brunswick Community Hospital utilized a very formal process for evaluating its future health system partner. Approximately ten organizations expressed initial interest and four responded to Requests for Proposals: Carolinas Health System, Novant Health, Essent Healthcare and Community Health Systems. Brunswick asked three of the organizations - Novant, Essent and Community Health - to participate in a public hearing and formal presentations to the Brunswick County Hospital Authority, along with local hospital board members, elected county officials, physicians and BCH employees.

Both Essent and Community Health Systems are national for-profit companies based in Tennessee. Novant was the lone not-for-profit organization chosen to participate in the public hearings.

"I think it was an advantage to be a home-state organization," explained Paul Wiles, President and CEO of Novant Health, "but Brunswick County leaders followed an impressive, well thought out process that required all three organizations to address the very specific needs of their local residents, physicians and hospital staff. They required us to address building projects, physician recruitment, human resource concerns during the transition and other priorities they've established as important to improving local healthcare."

BCH is a 60-bed community hospital with approximately 250 employees. The State of North Carolina granted the Brunswick hospital two Certificates of Need (CON) in 2001 for projects that have not been implemented: 1) adding 32 inpatient beds and; 2) constructing one additional operating room. Both of these CON projects were key elements that interested health systems were required to address in their proposals.

Novant Health employs approximately 15,000 staff. Three of its hospitals are community healthcare facilities similar to BCH: Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville, Thomasville Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital Matthews. Wiles explained that the success of the three hospitals and support from their communities were important components of Novant's proposal.

"People from the Brunswick area clearly articulated how proud they are of their local organizations, like the hospital," Wiles commented. "We're honored to become part of their communities."

HCA had been leasing the Brunswick hospital for 21 years. Brunswick leaders asked interested health systems to commit to a similar lease structure in the future. Novant and Brunswick will immediately begin finalizing details of the new agreement.