Chatham County Hospital Authority officials plan to meet this week with their counterparts from Novant Health to discuss lease changes needed to complete a strategic partnership agreement for Memorial University Medical Center. “We’re there to protect this safety net,” said Don Waters, chairman of the authority board. “The mission — that’s the heart of it.” At issue is a strategic partnership agreement with the Winston Salem, N.C.-based, nonprofit health care system that Memorial Health officials say will provide financial stability in the face of growing debt in a rapidly changing industry. Key to that agreement are specific amendments to the current lease between the authority and the hospital group that will protect Chatham County residents and their half-billion dollar asset at Memorial University Medical Center. The board of Memorial Health, parent corporation for Memorial, on Tuesday night unanimously approved the partnership agreement they said will infuse $295 million in funding over the next 10 years and allow Memorial to continue its mission as the region’s safety net hospital. Four of the authority members who also sit on the Memorial board recused themselves from that vote. Waters, president/CEO of Brasseler USA, and Art Dana, a retired certified public accountant who is the hospital authority’s treasurer, said Friday that while they support what Memorial president/CEO Maggie Gill and board chair Harry Haslam Jr., also a CPA, have done, issues with the lease remain to be addressed. And Waters said he and his board remain “very, very, very strong on the Novant transaction.” Both bodies agree the proposed lease amendments must be finalized before the deal can go forward. The lease remains the key to the agreement. “The lease is what protects the citizens of Chatham County and its nearly half-billion dollars in asset we own,” Waters said. He said that figure is before debt is considered, but the system’s revenues are $500 million a year. “At this point there needs to be a very solid understanding about these proposed lease amendments,” Waters said.

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