Rural Health Care Stabilization Program
North Carolina Senate Bill 537 and House Bill 200 established and appropriated funding for a Rural Health Care Stabilization loan program, which provides approximately $13.4M of funding for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and approximately $6.6M of funding for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. UNC Health has been asked by the State of North Carolina to administer this program, and encourages eligible hospitals to apply if they meet the qualifications outlined in the Bill, including but not limited to hospitals currently:
- Engaged in bankruptcy proceedings or facing imminent insolvency;
- Within material forbearance agreements with major creditor(s); and/or
- Experiencing or risking a material disruption to patient care.
Please Note
UNC Health will only consider applications submitted by entities meeting the definition of an eligible hospital as defined in Section 131A-30 of SB 537: “a health care facility located in a development tier one or development tier two area, as defined in G.S. 143B-437.08, that is unable to sustain operations for more than three years from the date of application for a loan under the program.”
UNC Health is excluded from applying for a loan under this Program and cannot be a partner in a partnership that applies for a loan under this Program. No loans can result in a material, direct financial benefit to UNC Health at the time the application and Plan are submitted for approval.”
UPDATED Application Requirements
By 5:00 p.m. Friday, August 28th: Please indicate your intent to apply for this program via phone (984-974-1250) or email (ruralhealth@unchealth.unc.edu).
By 5:00 p.m. Monday, September 14th: Please submit your completed application with all documents in PDF form to ruralhealth@unchealth.unc.edu. All applicants must submit an executive summary (maximum ten (10) pages, not including appendices), which should include:
- Documentation that the applicant hospital meets the definition of an “Eligible Hospital” as defined in Section 131A-30 of SB 537 (see above);
- Clearly define all proposed debtor(s), including how debt will be repaid in the event of continued financial instability for the applicant hospital;
- Disclosure of any conflicts of interest with any UNC Health owned or managed entities, or any related UNC entities;
- Problem statement;
- Plan for use of loan money, including requested loan amount, proposed terms and certification that use of the funds meets the intent of the bill;
- Sustainability plan for proposed investment;
- Impact to patient care and local community, with and without loan intervention;
- Financial projections, with and without loan intervention (may be submitted as appendices, if necessary);
- Changes to governance structure, if any;
- Acknowledgment of support from key creditors and local government leadership (may be submitted as appendices, if necessary); and
- Any additional appendices applicant deems relevant to their proposal.
A committee with membership internal and external to UNC Health will review all applications. At any time during this process, additional information or modifications to proposals may be requested of the applicants by UNC Health. This committee will make a recommendation to the North Carolina Local Government Commission (LGC) upon completion of their application reviews.
If you have questions regarding application requirements or timeline, you may contact UNC Health via phone or email:
UNC Health is honored to serve the State of North Carolina through this important work to help protect access to high quality health care for our rural communities.
