UNC Health's new CEO takes the helm amid "acute headwinds" in health care
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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.
Zoom in: A Wilmington native who holds three degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill, Page, 51, previously taught family medicine at UNC and was most recently executive dean of UNC's medicine school, where she led a large increase in research funding.
- That funding, however, has taken a big hit this year, with the Trump administration making big cuts to grants from the National Institutes of Health, a major benefactor of UNC's health research.
- "To have those very acute headwinds in multiple mission areas — like higher education and research to access to care and the clinical space — all of that is unique," she said. "And yet it is a chance for us to rethink some things and try to refine ourselves."
State of play: Page said it's been a stressful year, as UNC's had to make cuts, and the future of funding for some faculty is unclear.
- It's forcing the university to diversify its funding portfolio and seek more opportunities with private funders, she said.
At the same time, UNC Health and other providers in the state are preparing for the potential of Medicaid cuts and the possibility that Medicaid expansion is rolled back in North Carolina because of changes made in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" or shortfalls in the state budget next year.
- Page says that would put incredible stress on the state's rural hospitals.
- "I'm really confident that we're going to find a way. It's our mission, we have to," she said, noting it will force more partnerships between health systems. "But certainly those patients will have a harder time getting care if they don't [have Medicaid]."
Threat level: A lack of state budget is also casting uncertainty over the future of the planned $3 billion N.C. Children's, which would be the state's first standalone children's hospital.
- That hospital would be run in a first-of-its-kind partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health, and receive funding in part through state money. Republicans in the General Assembly, however, are now divided on whether to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the children's hospital.
- Page said the hospital is critical for child health in the state, and noted she's had to send pediatric patients she knows to other states for advanced care not available in the state.
- When asked if the project is possible without state support, she said it is, if private donors keep stepping up as they have. But it would likely have to be smaller and built more slowly.