UNC Health adds another rural North Carolina hospital to its system
.jpg "Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge hospital in Morganton is now UNC Health Blue Ridge.")
The UNC Health system is growing again, this time in the foothills of the mountains.
UNC and Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge have signed a management agreement that makes Blue Ridge the 14th hospital in the UNC system. Blue Ridge has hospital campuses in Morganton and Valdese, just west of Hickory, along with a wellness center, a continuing care retirement community and a network of physicians.
The system has been renamed UNC Health Blue Ridge, with a new Carolina blue and black logo.
By joining UNC, Blue Ridge will remain a nonprofit organization with a local board of directors while also tapping into the resources and expertise of a large, academic health system. J. Michael Bridges, chair of the Blue Ridge board, said joining UNC Health should improve the quality of health care in a rural part of the state and provide new specialty services “in ways not possible otherwise.”
Blue Ridge is the latest rural hospital in North Carolina to seek the help and support that comes with being part of UNC. As a nonprofit owned by the state, UNC sees building a network of hospitals throughout North Carolina as part of its duty to the public, says Jason DePlatchett, UNC’s vice president of system affiliations and integration.
UNC also now has more than 500 clinics across the state.
UNC Health was largely confined to the medical center in Chapel Hill until 2000, when it purchased Rex Healthcare in Raleigh. Subsequent mergers brought smaller hospitals into the system, starting with Chatham Hospital in Siler City in 2008 and Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville in 2010.
With the addition of Blue Ridge, UNC hospitals are now found in 14 counties, including Caldwell, Johnston, Lenoir, Nash, Onslow, Orange and Rockingham. Two hospitals, Southeastern in Lumberton and CarolinaEast in New Bern, joined the system within the last year.
Next month, UNC will open a new 50-bed hospital in Holly Springs, which will be considered a campus of Rex hospital. And this week, state regulators approved UNC’s proposal to build a 40-bed hospital in Research Triangle Park.
