CHAPEL HILL (July 23, 2026) – Hospital competition is erupting across North Carolina, from Wilmington to Asheville.

And Dr. Cristy Page, the CEO of UNC Health, sees a UNC hospital proposed for Wilmington as one that fills both local and regional health-care needs.¹

“As we’ve listened to the people of Wilmington, we hear loud and clear that they want options. They want access to specialty care. And we know that that region of the state has a lot of needs,” Page says in the accompanying video.

UNC Health filed with the state in June for a certificate of need to build a 150-bed, $853 million hospital at the corner of South 17th Street and Shipyard Boulevard in Wilmington.²

UNC Health hopes to join with clinics and hospitals across the region, including Novant, which took over New Hanover Regional Medical Center in 2021. Page notes that UNC Health has a longstanding partnership with Novant, particularly in physician training and pediatrics.³

She also notes that last year alone, UNC Health treated 7,000 people from New Hanover County – and 40-50% of them drove from Wilmington to Chapel Hill (159 miles) for that care.

“It shouldn’t be that way,” she says. “We can find these ways to have the specialty care.” The most complex care would still be available at the medical center in Chapel Hill, she says.

“But there’s a lot more that we can do if we have these anchors in places like Wilmington and Asheville to tie together our regionalization strategy,” she says.

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1 https://news.unchealthcare.org/2026/05/unc-health-announces-plans-for-new-community-hospital-in-wilmington/.
2 https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2026/06/24/unc-health-wilmington-hospital-beds-con.html.
3 https://news.unchealthcare.org/2020/11/novant-health-unc-health-and-unc-school-of-medicine-announce-agreement-to-partner-across-north-carolina/; https://www.wect.com/2020/05/21/novant-would-bring-unc-health-med-school-part-partnership-with-nhrmc/.