Bon Secours affirms its commitment to region; OKs in-network plan

“The hospital is important not only to the medical health of this community, but it’s important to the economic health of this community,” Jimmie Carter on Thursday, Oct. 30, told Lancaster County supervisors.

During a presentation to the board, Bessie Brown, vice president of nursing and hospital administrator at Bon Secours Rappahannock General Hospital (RGH) in Kilmarnock, outlined services offered at the hospital. In addition to inpatient medical, surgical and behavioral health, the hospital offers inpatient hospice and a sleep lab.

Brown is especially proud of the “swing bed” program that allows patients to recover closer to home after receiving acute care in Richmond. “It’s very hard to have your family member in the Richmond area and go back and forth each day,” Brown said.

Expanding

In addition to the recently expanded and updated outpatient infusion and cancer center, RGH also offers a range of outpatient services including surgery, imaging, laboratory, rehabilitation and behavioral health, she said.

Brown also outlined the recent $33.4 million in capital investments made with community support — an expanded emergency department, new cafeteria, new computed tomography (CT) equipment and upgrades to the lab and pharmacy. She said they are “also looking forward to being the first hospital in the state of Virginia” utilizing geothermal energy.

New technology is improving the delivery of health care, she said. Project Voyager provides “ambient documentation,” which is an AI-powered tool that records and documents patients and provider interactions directly into the electronic medical record. “The only other hospital in the nation that currently has this is the Mayo Clinic,” said Brown.

Carter said he believes RGH is “the smallest stroke certified hospital in America.” He said a robot with a video screen allows a neurologist to virtually examine stroke patients. He added that investments in diagnostics and care mean that just 6% of patients end up being shipped out to other hospitals. “It’s important to understand that most people are staying here,” he said.

Designation

As a critical access hospital, RGH is limited to 25 inpatient beds. Lancaster Supervisor William Smith wondered if growth in the county would lead to the hospital “graduating” out of that designation. Carter said he did not think so due to shorter inpatient stays and more outpatient services.

Keeping the designation also allows the hospital to take advantage of costbased Medicare reimbursements. “The trade offs for us of financial stability is worth it for this community in order to be able to invest the money into other things,” Carter said.

2026 in-network agreement with Humana

Bon Secours recently announced it has successfully concluded negotiations with Humana, ensuring more than 48,000 patients across Virginia will continue to have in-network access to Bon Secours providers and facilities across both its Richmond and Hampton Roads markets.

This agreement, effective Jan. 1, 2026, covers Humana contracts for Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid health plans.