UNC Health announced plans Monday to build a hospital in Wilmington, an effort that would see the hospital system directly compete with Novant in the coastal city.
UNC Health's proposed hospital would be at the southeast corner of South 17th Street and Shipyard Boulevard, a little less than a mile south of Novant Health's South 17th Street campus.
"This is what 'care closer to home' looks like: A community hospital, backed by a statewide, state-owned academic health system, designed to bring the additional services this growing community has asked for,” Dr. Christy Page, UNC Health's CEO, wrote in a statement.
The proposed hospital would offer cardiology, emergency care, OBGYN and oncology. On a website touting the project called www.yourcarerighthere.com, UNC Health said it is exploring the project in large part to offer specialty care that many Wilmington-area families are already driving to Chapel Hill to seek.
UNC Health needs regulatory approvals from the state for the new hospital, including approval of a Certificate of Need. In its release, the health system said it plans to submit that application on June 15.
The Chapel Hill-based system is targeting a 2030 opening for the proposed hospital. Officials did not announce a planned investment for the project, writing that they "won't overpromise" and that the scope will be determined by the Certificate of Need process.
Any approval would put UNC Health in direct competition with Novant.
"It's no secret southeastern North Carolina has become a destination, and the region continues to see population growth and new businesses, which has prompted the state to allow 225 new hospital beds in New Hanover County. Based on the size of the bed count, we fully expected this to be a competitive process," Laurie Whalin, president of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center and acute care operations for the Novant Health Coastal Region, wrote in a statement.
Whalin was referring to the State Medical Facilities Plan, which found that New Hanover County needs an additional 225 acute care hospital beds to meet projected demand.
The UNC Health team has significant ties to Wilmington.
Page, the CEO, is a Wilmington native. And Ernie Bovio, UNC Health's regional president for the southeast coastal region, worked as president of Novant's Wilmington-based region from January 2024 until April.
"As I've listened to my own neighbors and community members across the region, I’ve heard a clear message: Wilmington is ready for more choice in healthcare – and UNC Health is ready to deliver it," Bovio wrote in a statement.
UNC Health also operates a UNC School of Medicine campus in Wilmington, with students gaining hands-on experience at Novant's New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
The UNC Health team said it has spent about $4 million researching community needs in Wilmington as part of its evaluation of the project.
"Wilmington residents have told us clearly: Community health screenings, mobile health units, and school-based health programming are missing," the UNC Health website states.
The hospital system also said it intends to gear its services toward an older population in a community where about one in every five people is already a senior citizen.
As part of Monday's announcement, Wilmington Health, an independent, physician-owned practice, announced that it is supporting the proposed hospital.
Jeff James, Wilmington Health's CEO, wrote in a statement, "We strongly support UNC Health's plan to bring a new community hospital to our region — closing critical gaps in specialty care and ensuring families across our region have options to access the services they need, right here at home.”
Novant's presence
Until 2021, New Hanover County owned the region's largest hospital system.
In 2019, the county decided to explore a sale of the hospital system after deciding that it could not keep up with larger medical systems that have been adding markets across North Carolina in recent years.
That ultimately led to three finalists — Atrium Health, Duke Health and Novant Health, which said it intended to develop a teaching partnership with UNC Health.
County officials chose Novant, in a deal that saw the Winston-Salem-based non-profit hospital system agree to pay $1.5 billion for the Wilmington hospital. That money was used to fund a community endowment that has since issued grants to fund nonprofit efforts aimed at boosting community health or quality of life.
The sales agreement also saw Novant agree to make about $3.1 billion in capital investments, including $2.5 billion in new investments and about $600 million in routine expenses.
As part of that, Novant announced earlier this year that it plans to spend more than $1 billion to build a new heart and vascular patient tower at its South 17th Street facility; an 80,000-foot heart and vascular medical office building; and a 60-room inpatient rehabilitation hospital. That project would also see major changes to two floors of Novant's main hospital in Wilmington.
Novant needs to apply for a Certificate of Need for the new patient tower.
Novant has also announced that it received approval to build a 20-bed hospital in fast-growing Leland, along with a freestanding emergency department in Carolina Shores, near the South Carolina state line.
Novant also operates smaller hospitals in Brunswick County's Bolivia and in Pender County's Burgaw.
Whalin wrote that Novant has "committed" $2 billion to expand healthcare infrastructure since taking over New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
"Novant Health has an unparalleled commitment to this community. We have and continue to grow alongside it," Whalin wrote.
The ownership change in Wilmington has not always gone smoothly.
Last week, New Hanover Regional Medical Center received its fourth consecutive 'C' rating from national hospital quality watchdog Leapfrog. And the system has fallen from a three-star rating by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to a two-star rating, WHQR reported.
Shortly after Novant took control in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Hanover Regional Medical Center reported a nurse turnover rate of about 26%.
Last year, hospital officials told county commissioners, that fell to about 9.5%.
