Carolinas Healthcare links up with N.C. Research Campus

Saturday, April 05, 2008 6:00 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend | Staff report

KANNAPOLIS — Officials at the N.C. Research Campus have reached an agreement naming Carolinas HealthCare System as the exclusive provider of inpatient and outpatient medical services.

Although numerous organizations locating to the new campus will be performing research, Carolinas HealthCare System will be the official entity providing medical care, according to Leslie Ann Cannon, communications specialist for Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.

The agreement includes participation and medical staffing by two physician groups, which will support the ongoing initiative: Cabarrus Family Medicine and NorthEast Physician Network.

Following construction of the Research Campus, medical service physicians and staff will occupy the first dedicated medical office building through the announced purchase of 40,000 square feet of office space near the campus entrance at the intersection of Dale Earnhardt Boulevard and South Chestnut Street.

Cannon said the state has authorized Carolinas HealthCare Systems to provide an imaging services — including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) capabilities that will be housed in an additional, yet-to-be-determined, 20,000-square-foot campus location.

Lynne Scott Safrit, president of Castle & Cooke, North Carolina which is heading up the Research Campus project for owner David Murdock, said, "I'm very pleased to confirm the continuation of the great tradition of health-care service and excellence that's been consistently provided to our residents for more than 70 years by the former NorthEast Medical Center and now Carolinas HealthCare."

"Today's announced agreement is tribute to what care has been provided in the past," she said, "and all we anticipate accomplishing together in the future."

Joseph Piedmont, president and chief operating officer of Carolinas HealthCare, said the system is honored to formalize its relationship with the N.C. Research Campus.

"It is our belief that CHS is uniquely suited for this exclusive partnership," he said, "based on our comprehensive array of services ranging from preventive care to advanced specialty care, medical education and research.

"This announcement is a natural and logical extension of our commitment to serve the communities of Kannapolis, Concord and beyond, and we look forward to working with the NCRC to create an unparalleled environment of patient care and research."

Marcia Meredith, spokeswoman for Novant Health, which recently merged with Rowan Regional Medical Center, said she was surprised by the announcement. "The concept behind a research campus is collaboration," she said, "and exclusive doesn't sound like collaboration."

The Certificate of Need Section of the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation announced last Friday its denial of an application submitted by Rowan Regional and Novant for a community hospital on Moose Road in Kannapolis.

The state earlier approved a certificate of need application submitted by CMC-NorthEast for a freestanding emergency department on Lane Street near Interstate 85.