Cristy Page, the newly appointed CEO of UNC Health and dean of UNC’s school of medicine, is taking the helm of one of the state’s most influential health care systems at a tumultuous time.
Why it matters: Page, a family physician who was made permanent CEO last month after serving in an interim capacity, must navigate looming Medicaid cuts, a decline in research funding, expansion across the state and an uncertain future around a children’s hospital.
Driving the news: UNC Health is one of the largest health systems in the state, operating 16 hospitals, employing more than 50,000 people and generating revenue of $6.8 billion.
- It’s Page’s goal to continue to grow, with plans for a new children’s hospital in Apex, an application for a new hospital in Asheville and an expanded presence in the Triangle. “Our state is growing … and we’ll need to grow both in the urban areas as well as the rural areas,” she told Axios.
- She envisions UNC’s hospitals working together in a more regional setup, with UNC Health creating groupings of hospitals in the eastern, central and western parts of the state to share and coordinate resources and specialists.
The big picture: Page told Axios that health care systems nationwide are experiencing “acute headwinds,” especially those like UNC Health, which serve many rural patients and heavily emphasize research…