Harnett Health System, Inc. and Campbell University have established a formal, strategic partnership to transform healthcare in Harnett County and beyond. Both organizations will collaboratively work to achieve all aspects of a major and comprehensive healthcare community.
Harnett Health President and CEO Ken Bryan said, “In today’s healthcare climate, healthcare organizations that are successful build strategically important and stable partnerships to enhance the quality of care, reduce the costs of care, and expand the scope of healthcare services across a significant geographical region. This partnership accomplishes all three goals to ensure healthcare is developed throughout our area.”
While the partnership will take on many forms as opportunities arise, the first two key actions are to ensure that the need for physicians, especially in primary care, is effectively addressed and to promptly establish a residency program to train and keep physicians in the area after residency training.
The Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine at Campbell University welcomed its first class of 160 students in August 2013. Students will spend the first two years learning on the Harnett County campus in state-of-the-art simulation and anatomy labs before being assigned to training opportunities in regional community hospitals.
Both organizations are working to have a Campbell Residency Program with Harnett Health in place for 2015 to provide the continued training for these students.
Dr. John Kauffman, dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine, said this model is ideal for training primary care physicians, particularly physicians who will practice in rural and underserved areas. “By placing our students in community hospitals for their third and fourth years and having residency programs available once they graduate, we believe it will enable our students to put down roots and become the next generation of physicians who practice in this community,” said Kauffman. “These students will be your pediatricians, your family doctors, your internists, your surgeons, your OBGYNs and your emergency medical physicians.”
North Carolina currently ranks 34th in the nation in primary care physicians. The need is particularly great in rural counties. Though there are four other allopathic medical schools in our state, less than half of medical school graduates from North Carolina medical schools remain in North Carolina to practice.
Dr. Jerry M. Wallace, president of Campbell University continues, “The ability for Campbell University to supply quality providers of care and the ability for Harnett Health to offer the chance for those providers to practice medicine is a marriage of tremendous benefit to citizens.”
However, the partnership doesn’t end with the training of primary care physicians.“Campbell University is providing comprehensive training for North Carolina’s next generation of healthcare professionals,” said Ronald W. Maddox, Pharm. D., Chairman of the Harnett Health Board of Trustees. “With an approach that emphasizes interprofessional training among students in Campbell’s pharmacy, physician assistant, clinical research, physical therapy, public health, and medical programs, Harnett Health and Campbell University are indeed poised to transform healthcare in Harnett County and beyond.”
The organizations have already contributed significantly to this transformation through the opening of Central Harnett Hospital and the opening of the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine. These aligned efforts are the largest single capital investment in Harnett County’s history.
Ernest Alphin, chairman of the Harnett Health Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee, said, “This is a significant investment by Harnett Health. Our board is steadfast in its resolve to make sure we continue to invest appropriately in the growth of healthcare in the area and in making a major positive impact on the local economy.”
“It is an extremely exciting time for all invested in healthcare in our region,” said H. West Lawson, MD, WakeMed’s Chief Medical Officer and Harnett Health Board of Trustees member. “This partnership represents years of hard work from both Campbell University and Harnett Health as they continue to improve access to quality healthcare in Eastern North Carolina through training and job opportunities for providers. It is also a huge benefit to citizens to stay close to home for their healthcare needs.”
One-Year Anniversary of Central Harnett Hospital
Harnett Health is celebrating the one year anniversary of the opening of Central Harnett Hospital in Lillington. The state-of-the art facility opened on January 18, 2013 increasing access to healthcare for residents in a five county area. From its opening through the end of December 2013, our new hospital treated 19,835 emergency patients and 1,107 inpatients, provided imaging services to 18,965, and performed 95,284 lab procedures and 556 surgeries.
About Harnett Health
Harnett Health is a private, not-for-profit healthcare system based in Dunn, N.C. The system encompasses a network of facilities throughout Harnett and Johnston counties and has more than 265 credentialed providers and more than 1,000 employees. The system includes Betsy Johnson Hospital in Dunn, N.C. with 101 beds and Central Harnett Hospital in Lillington, N.C. with 50 private inpatient rooms. Services offered through Harnett Health include outpatient rehab/wellness centers in Benson, N.C., Dunn, N.C., and Lillington, N.C., and cardiac rehabilitation services, a breast care center, outpatient cardiac testing and a wound care center in Dunn, N.C. The healthcare system has six physician practices: Angier Medical Services, Coats Medical Services, Dunn Medical Services, Lillington Medical Services, Harnett OB/GYN and Premiere Pediatrics. It also has a Foundation focused on fundraising, providing a personal touch for patients with extraordinary needs, and working to expand access to care for our community. For more information, visit www.harnetthealth.org.
About Campbell University & the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine
When the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine opened at Campbell University in August 2013, it was the first new school of medicine in North Carolina in over 35 years. The mission of the Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine is to educate and prepare community-based osteopathic physicians in a Christian environment to care for the rural and underserved populations in North Carolina, the Southeastern United States and the nation. The following values drive the medical school’s faculty, staff and students: teamwork, leadership, professionalism, integrity, diversity and the ethical treatment of all humanity.
Campbell University is comprised of seven schools. The University began addressing health care issues in 1985 with the establishment of the nationally acclaimed School of Pharmacy, which was the first new pharmacy school founded in nearly 40 years. In addition to offering the Doctor of Pharmacy program, the school offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Clinical Research and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2009, the name was formally changed to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to provide additional health science programs, including the newly established Physician Assistant Studies program (2011), Master of Public Health (2012), and Doctor of Physical Therapy (2014).