The Northampton Board of Supervisors rejected current plans by Eastern Shore Rural Health to combine the Franktown and Bayview centers into one location in Eastville. The BoS unanimously agreed with Supervisor Granville Hogg’s motion to send “questions and concerns” that had been raised during public comment to the planning commission. The proposal had been recommended by the Planning Commission for approval, however the Board is asking the Commission to go back and vet Rural Health’s proposal before the next regular meeting.
Before making the decision, the Board listened to a presentation by Rural Health’s CEO, Nancy Stern, “We have outgrown that facility (Franktown), and Bayview is also aging; the consolidation of these two centers brings a real opportunity for the economies of scale, when we pool together we can do more. Our Onancock and Chincoteague offices are open on Saturdays and we realized we had a good thing going. We were actually able to reduce emergency room use, we were able to triage and keep our patients out of the ER, and see them on Saturday. But, once again for the record, we are not urgent care, we are community health center providers sanctioned to provide outpatient primary care. But in this facility, we are going to offer ten hour days, as well as Saturday hours.”
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