The MedWest system forged by the hospitals in Haywood, Jackson and Swain County three-and-a-years ago will dissolve, ending a short-lived partnership that was rocky almost from the start.

Thousands of uninsured Western North Carolina residents will soon benefit from the Affordable Care Act, despite most people still being confused over what health insurance reform truly entails, according local health experts.

Five full-time doctors practicing at Swain County Medical Center have left during the past year.

The departures account for half the doctors in the county, who not only staff the emergency room but also take care of patients staying in the hospital and double as family practitioners.

As Dr. Randall Castor stared down the final weeks of his residency, it was clear those long, grueling years of medical training were about to pay off.

Preliminary sitework on a new Cherokee Indian Hospital could start as early as December.

The hospital has entered contract negotiations with a construction management company that would oversee construction of a new hospital, estimated to run between $50 to $65 million.

Maintaining high-quality doctors in Haywood County emerged as a common theme in a public hearing last week on the future of MedWest-Haywood.

A public hearing on the future of Haywood Regional Medical Center will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the MedWest-Haywood Health & Fitness Center on the hospital campus.

It was a rather strange place to have a life-changing epiphany, but there he was, on the set of a British reality TV show in 2007, deep in the bowels of the Borneo jungles, when Jonathon Bryant found a purpose in life. 

Set in some of the most remote jungles on the planet, “Adrenaline Junkie” was shooting its third series. Starring Jack Osbourne, son of the famous rocker Ozzy, and five tag-alongs, the show took viewers through the primitive Pacific island, encountering wild boar, bloodsucking leeches and the secluded people of the Penan, exotically adorned with drooping ear lobes, weighted earrings and body tattoos.

Angel Medical Center in Franklin officially came under the umbrella of Mission Hospital System this week, a move Angel leaders say will help improve health care for patients and the hospital’s bottom line.

Financial challenges faced by rural hospitals show no sign of a turnaround, prompting MedWest hospital leaders to consider what was once a last resort.

MedWest hospitals are entertaining the idea of selling or merging with a larger hospital system that would bring a cash infusion to the table.