Novant Health names new senior vice-president, medical affairs for Winston-Salem market

LAWRENCE R. NYCUM, M.D.

Lawrence R. Nycum, M.D. assumes role currently

held by Bruce Walley, M.D. on Jan. 1, 2015

"Novant Health has appointed Lawrence R. Nycum, M.D as senior vice-president, medical affairs for the Winston-Salem market. He was previously the medical director of Novant Health Oncology Specialists in Winston-Salem. Dr. Nycum will be responsible for all clinical activities and physician support at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center, Novant Health Clemmons Medical Center, Novant Health Medical Park Hospital and for all Novant Health ambulatory surgery facilities in the Winston-Salem market. He will assume the position currently held by Bruce Walley, M.D. who will be retiring January 1, 2015.

Dr. Nycum specializes in Gynecologic Oncology and received a BA in biology from Erskine College and an M.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served his residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. Nycum resigned from active duty in the U.S. Air Force in 2002 with the rank of Lt. Colonel.

BRUCE WALLEY, M.D.

Dr. Walley practiced heart and lung surgery at Forsyth Medical Center from 1982 until 2010 when he became senior vice-president of medical affairs. Among his accomplishments Dr. Walley helped establish the cardiac surgery program at Forsyth Medical Center and oversaw the quality metrics for the medical staff and the credentialing of medical staff for the new Kernersville Medical Center and Clemmons Medical Center. 

About Novant Health
Novant Health is a four-state integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient centers and hospitals that delivers a seamless and convenient healthcare experience to our communities. The Novant Health network consists of more than 1,200 physicians and 26,000 employees who make healthcare remarkable at nearly 500 locations, including 14 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics. Headquartered in Winston–Salem, N.C., Novant Health is committed to making healthcare remarkable for patients and communities, serving more than four million patients annually. In 2013, Novant Health provided more than $566 million in community benefit including charity care and services. Novant Health is one of the top 25 integrated health systems in the United States and was named a top 50 “Best Places for Diverse & Women Managers to Work” by Diversity MBA Magazine.

For more information, please visit our website at NovantHealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook "

- A Press Release

Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center wins safety award

NC Department of Labor Silver Award for Safety

"Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center has won the Silver Safety Award from the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL).

To qualify for the award, Kernersville Medical Center demonstrated that its worker injury cases resulted in 50% less days away from work than the hospital industry rate.

Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center is one of six Novant Health facilities being recognized. Awards will be presented at a breakfast banquet at 8:00am on Thursday, May 15.  The ceremony, which takes place at the Greensboro Coliseum, is sponsored by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce."

Submitted by Pam Cook

Brunstetter reportedly retiring from NC General Assembly

Peter Brunstetter

NC Sen. Pete Brunstetter, a Republican lawmaker from Forsyth County who co-chairs the powerful Appropriations/Base Budget Committee, is retiring from the General Assembly, according to the office of the NC Senate President Pro Tem. A news release indicated Brunstetter will not finish out his full term and will leave the Senate on Dec. 15.

A staffer in Brunstetter's office referred questions about the reported retirement to Amy Auth, the communications director for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.

The news release from Berger's office included the following statement from the Senate leader:

"Pete Brunstetter is an outstanding public servant whose leadership and budgetary expertise were instrumental in closing the $2.5 billion deficit Republicans inherited and ensuring North Carolina's long-term fiscal health. As a champion of small business, Pete had a tremendous impact on reforming our state's onerous regulatory environment and medical malpractice laws. He is a close friend and trusted adviser, and I know I speak for many colleagues — and his constituents — in thanking him for his many years of service. We wish him well in his future endeavors."

Question answered: The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Brunstetter is taking a job as executive vice president and general counsel of Novant Health.

Occupy Winston-Salem protests Novant job cuts

Tom Garner, Tony Ndege, BJ Murphy and Brandon Holgersen (l-r) protested job cuts by Novant Health outside Forsyth Medical Center this evening.

About 16 people picketed at the corner of Hawthorne Road and Silas Creek Parkway this evening across the street from Forsyth Medical Center to protest job cuts by the hospital’s nonprofit owner, Novant Health, this evening.

They waved signs with messages like “Corporate greed makes us sick” and “We love healthcare workers” at passing motorists, eliciting honks and thumbs-up.

“We’re here to protest the fact that Novant, despite having non-profit status, is running their nonprofit like a for-profit company,” said Tony Ndege with Occupy Winston-Salem. He cited speculative land investments and exorbitant executive salaries.  

“Their [executives] are receiving millions of dollars in salaries and perks,” he continued. “It’s pretty ridiculous that they’re not taking cuts in their pay,” he continued. “They’re making bad business decisions and investments, and they’re showing their employees to the door. And to me, that’s the height of disloyalty.” 

Novant announced last week that it plans to cut 289 jobs. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, the company operates 13 hospitals, including facilities in Kernersville and Thomasville. The company employs 1,124 doctors and 25,000 employees in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. 

“Last week’s job eliminations were painful and difficult decisions that happened as part of our need to make healthcare more affordable,” Marketing and Public Relations Director Cynthia Charles said in a prepared statement before the protest. “We are a not-for-profit healthcare organization that is not only responding to society’s demand for affordable healthcare, but that is also facing continued declines in reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, along with growing needs for providing charity care. We remain committed to being a major employer and provider of high-quality, affordable healthcare to our local communities. We make decisions like this with a heavy heart, because the people who were affected have been part of the Novant family.” 

CEO Carl Armato said a memo announcing the layoffs that the company is currently recruiting for 1,300 positions primarily in clinical and patient care, and hoped to place some of those who had been laid off when their skills and training met the new jobs’ requirements.

Armato gave four main reasons for the force reductions: a national mandate to lower spending on healthcare, reduced demand for elective surgeries and diagnostic imaging, reduced reimbursements from federal programs, and a significant increase in charity care.

Ndege said the healthcare company’s claim that it must tighten its budget to adjust to declining reimbursement levels from Medicare and Medicaid strikes him as false. 

“I think it’s outrageous they’re trying to blame this on Obamacare,” he said. “Baby boomers are getting older. It’s obvious that there’s not less business for them.” 

Catherine Leinbach, 60, held a sign reading, “Greed equals 289 layoffs.” She has visited Forsyth Medical Center on a number of occasions as a charity patient. 

Once, she said she came to the emergency room at 3 a.m. and left seven and a half hours without being seen because she had to come back home to care for her bed-ridden mother. Leinbach said she was not seen despite the fact that she was the only one there for the duration of her visit, adding that she heard employees conversing down a hallway. 

Another time, she had to wait 11 hours to be seen for a problem with her gall bladder. Ultimately, the doctor said he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her, gave her some pain pills and sent her home. 

“It was just horrible to wait and wait,” Leinbach said. “I was in a separate room. It gets aggravating when they pull people in front of you and you wonder: ‘What the heck is wrong with them?’ 

“Less than six months later,” she continued, “I had my gall bladder taken out and I had 72 stones. They put me through an MRI. You would thing they would have seen something.” 

Leinbach said she could not tell based on her experience whether she was treated differently from insured patients. 

“I think they’re overwhelmed and understaffed,” she said.  

UPDATE: Jeanne Mayer, a spokeswoman for Novant Health, questioned when Leinbach visited the emergency room at Forsyth Medical Center. The timing is significant, she said, because the hospital has transformed its emergency room. 

"The emergency room at Forsyth Medical Center is one of the largest in the state and has transformed its processes during the past couple of years to become more efficient in seeing and treating patients quickly while sustaining a high quality of care," Mayer said in an e-mail. "When you enter the ER, a nurse greets you and does a quick-look assessment. This lets staff identify those who need immediate care, such as patients with stroke or heart attack symptoms. 

"Patients who are stable may initially be seen by a nurse practitioner, who can order diagnostic tests even before the patient is brought back to a treatment room," she continued. "Traditionally, patients coming into the ER would wait in the lobby until a room was available and their care would begin once in the room." Occupy Winston-Salem protests Novant layoffs from Jordan Green on Vimeo.