The region is seeing an expansion of medical facilities and services (for more details on specific projects, click here).

Meanwhile, medical education, clinical trials and partnerships on health care models are other areas where local health officials are investing resources.
 
 

1 – Medical Real Estate

A local investor acquired a medical office in Hampstead for more than $2.5 million in May.

DaVita Dialysis, a national kidney care provider, has occupied the just over 7,900-square-foot medical building at 22804 U.S. 17 since 2015, according to a news release.

KY Young Investment Partners LLC, an out-of-state, family-owned investment group, sold the property and the surrounding nearly 3 acres in a transaction that closed on May 8. Real estate investment services firm Marcus & Millichap represented the seller.

Deed records show Charles Rabinowitz and his son, Michael, both trustees of the Charles Rabinowitz Living Trust, purchased the property. The purchase is a “strategic acquisition” for Charles Rabinowitz, according to the release.
Ginny Dunn, of Maus, Warwick, Matthews & Co., represented the buyer.

“Medical real estate assets anchored by national providers like DaVita,” Dunn said, “remain highly desirable, especially in growing communities like Hampstead.”
 
 

2 – Research Investment

Wilmington-based Novant Health physicians will partner with UNC physicians and researchers on two clinical research efforts, bolstered by $1 million in grants.

A collaborative including Novant Health, UNC Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine awarded two $500,000 research grants, officials announced in May.

The money will launch joint Novant Health and UNC School of Medicine studies “focusing on evaluating tools that expand access to prenatal scans and advancing efforts to improve surgical care,” according to a news release.

That collaborative awarded a separate $1 million grant last year for two different research projects.

The recently announced grants will fund studies on maternal health and the post-surgical use of opioids, Mark King, vice president of research and innovation at Novant Health and the chair of the collaborative’s Research Advisory Council, said in the release.

“In addition,” he said, “these collaborations will build additional infrastructure for future research here at the coast.”
 
 

3 – ACO Initiative

This spring, Wilmington Health and the American Medical Group Association partnered up to launch a value-based care initiative network for members of the trade group.

The AMGA Value Care Network is designed to help health care practices across the country that are pursuing accountable care organization (ACO) models.

Wilmington Health CEO Jeff James and AMGA president and CEO Jerry Penso finalized the partnership at the group’s annual conference in April, according to an announcement.

The network is intended to leverage Wilmington Health’s experience with ACOs “to help medical groups and health systems implement proven strategies, improve patient outcomes, and enhance financial performance under ACO models,” a news release stated.

Wilmington Health has participated in accountable care organizations since the model’s early days after it was born out of the Affordable Care Act that passed in 2010.

“This initiative represents our shared mission to transform the health care delivery system across the country,” James said.
 
 

4 – Bond Projects

County officials approved supporting $855 million in tax-exempt bonds to help Novant Health finance projects across the Carolinas, including upgrades at facilities in the Cape Fear region.

Proceeds from the sale of the bonds would help fund various Novant projects, including the construction of Scotts Hill Medical Center, along with energy-related projects and routine capital expenditures at other Novant facilities in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties.

Bond proceeds would also help finance projects at other facilities in the Charlotte and Winston-Salem areas and on Hilton Head Island.

The National Finance Authority would issue the bonds, said Charles Boyer, who spoke on behalf of the finance authority and Novant at a New Hanover County Board of Commissioners meeting.

“It is required by federal tax law that you host this hearing in every jurisdiction where the bond proceeds will be spent,” he said. “In no way is the county responsible for the debt or have any liability for the debt, it is just a federal requirement.”
 
 

5 – Medical Training

This spring’s cohort of the local UNC School of Medicine campus, which started in 2016, was the program’s largest-ever group of third- and fourth-year medical students.

In March, the local class included 30 third-year medical students and 18-20 in their fourth year.
The Wilmington physical campus equates to Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center and other local Novant facilities.

At the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Jared Wood became the first student to earn a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry in May. That doctoral program, seeded by a $5 million gift from Yousry and Linda Sayed to start it, began in 2023.

It trains doctoral students for academic and private careers as scientists for pharmaceutical and Cape Fear Community College continues work this year on the second phase of its Saklad Health and Human Services Building in downtown Wilmington. This phase is expected to triple the instructional space for CFCC’s dental programs and expand the number of classrooms and simulation labs available to its nursing and health sciences programs.