\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from the residents in our community that they want more access to primary care and to specialty care, they want a choice and an alternative without having to drive two hours to that alternative,\u201d Bovio said.<\/p>\n
Wilmington Health CEO Jeff James said the state has identified a need for 226 additional hospital beds in Wilmington. While UNC Health has already submitted an application, James said other healthcare systems could pursue the same opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very supportive of UNC\u2019s application. We\u2019ll also be supportive of Novant\u2019s application as well,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat hospital is still a number of years out, and there\u2019s no certainty that UNC will get it, it\u2019s likely there will be other applicants as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In a statement to WWAY, Novant Health said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Novant Health has an unparalleled commitment to this community. We have and continue to grow alongside it. Our strong community partnerships and our Vision 2030 plans to improve access to high-quality care are years in the making. I\u2019m extremely proud of our physicians and our care teams, and all the work they have done to advance the level of care offered in our Coastal Region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In just five years, Novant Health has already committed $2 billion to expand the healthcare infrastructure. Next month, we will celebrate the opening of Scotts Hill Medical Center, which will grow needed access to hospital care in New Hanover County. We will also file for state approval for an expanded heart & vascular center of excellence in a new patient tower, building on the nationally recognized expertise of our teams. We\u2019re adding a hospital and surgery center in Leland and a new medical office building in midtown Wilmington, among other projects. As always, we will continue to invest in our people and our patients to support the wellbeing of the entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The health system highlighted more than $2 billion in recent and planned investments across the region, including the upcoming opening of Scotts Hill Medical Center, a new patient tower and a hospital and surgery center in Leland.<\/p>\n
Novant Health also recently received its fourth consecutive \u201cC\u201d grade on hospital safety ratings from a national watchdog organization.<\/p>\n
Former Novant patient Jon Martell, who now runs the Five Star Project advocating for improved patient care, said the possibility of another hospital in the region could benefit residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovant is going to continue to be a major player in the health system for our city and having another hospital doesn\u2019t let them off the hook,\u201d Martell said.<\/p>\n
The hospital proposal also comes as University of North Carolina Wilmington has proposed creating a new medical degree program to help address healthcare workforce shortages in the region.<\/p>\n
Bovio said UNC Health\u2019s existing academic partnership with Novant Health would continue even as the hospital proposal moves forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovant Health and UNC Health have a strong affiliation that is academic in nature,\u201d Bovio said. \u201cUNC has a third and fourth year branch campus of the School of Medicine in partnership with Novant and that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, UNCW said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis announcement reinforces the need that UNCW has been addressing. Current and future hospitals in our region require a strong pipeline of well-trained doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, and UNCW is committed to doing our part in addressing these regional workforce needs, increasing clinical care capacity and improving access to care close to home. Our proposed medical school is a key component of expanding our state\u2019s healthcare infrastructure and meeting the needs of North Carolinians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from the residents in our community that they want more access to primary care and to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[275577,97,252,253,1493,955,275578,275579],"class_list":["post-638252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-ernio-bovio","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospital","tag-medical","tag-unc-health","tag-wilmington-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}