Articles from UNC Health

UNC Health today announced the rebranding of Rex Health Ventures and the launch of UNC Health Ventures, its corporate venture capital and strategic investment platform.

UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, UNC Health Rex in Raleigh and Appalachian Regional in Boone have received top 5-Star ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which measures hospital quality and safety to help consumers make informed choices.

FORTUNE has named UNC Health one of “America’s Most Innovative Companies.” This is the inaugural release of FORTUNE’s Most Innovative list shining a spotlight on the top companies in the US that have made the biggest impact in innovation.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Hospitals have been selected to be a Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). UNC-Chapel Hill was one of three sites selected to expand beyond 10 existing RESPTC sites across the US.

While illegal for recreational use, psychedelic drugs are showing great promise as treatments for severe depression and anxiety, as well as alcohol addiction and other conditions. Some advocates and scientists believe the actual psychedelic trip – hallucinations and profound emotional experiences– is what leads to long-lasting therapeutic effects. Other scientists speculate that if the ‘trip’ could be eliminated from such drugs, then only the therapeutic effects might remain. Researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, UC San Francisco, Yale, Duke, and Stanford have taken a major step toward answering that question.

UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill is ranked nationally across four adult specialties in US News’ 2022-23 “Best Hospitals” report, released today.

The Appalachian Regional Healthcare System (ARHS) Board of Trustees and the UNC Health Board of Directors announced today the approval of a comprehensive, long-term Management Services Agreement (MSA) between the two organizations to expand local healthcare services and improve access to resources for patients in the High Country region of North Carolina.

The amygdala is a small structure deep in the brain important for interpreting the social and emotional meaning of sensory input – from recognizing emotion in faces to interpreting fearful images that inform us about potential dangers in our surroundings. Historically the amygdala has been thought to play a prominent role in the difficulties with social behavior that are central to autism.

This fall UNC Health is implementing a new software called Oncology Clinical Pathways that will facilitate a common high quality, evidence-based care standard across the entire UNC Health system of hospitals in North Carolina, ensuring that each patient receives the most up-to-date course of recommended cancer treatment.

The following is an opinion editorial provided by Dr. Wesley Burks, CEO, UNC Health / Dean, UNC School of Medicine as originally published by Capitol Broadcasting Company / WRAL.com.

Effective immediately, UNC Health hospitals will no longer administer COVID tests to the general public who are not experiencing symptoms in their emergency departments (EDs). With the impact of the Omicron variant, emergency departments at hospitals across the nation have been overwhelmed with patients, and UNC Health is no exception to the current surge of COVID cases.

UNC Health announced today that it is mailing letters to 946 patients to notify them that certain limited billing information associated with their account may have been accessed by another person without appropriate authorization.

UNC Health Alliance, the clinically integrated network and population health services organization of UNC Health, for a second consecutive year, saved millions for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) and their members and earned the highest possible hospital and physician quality scores in the Blue Premier℠ program.

UNC Hospitals announced that it has mailed letters to 719 patients whose information may be at risk for identity theft.

Food insecurity among older adults takes a toll on the nutrition and health of those affected. According to data from 2019, 5.2 million people age 60 and above in the U.S. were food insecure – equaling 7.1% of that population – and that number has likely grown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rich Preyer and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer of Hillsborough, North Carolina, have donated $1 million to support the latest phase of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Carolina Breast Cancer Study, which is investigating how the causes, treatments and long-term outcomes of breast cancer differ between Black women and white women. This gift builds on the couple’s longstanding commitment to advancing breast cancer research and breaking down barriers to high quality health care for everyone.

The leadership from Blue Ridge HealthCare and UNC Health today announced that the organizations have finalized a comprehensive Management Services Agreement. This partnership with UNC Health allows Blue Ridge to strengthen rural healthcare throughout the Mountain Region while moving toward becoming the regional center for North Carolina’s largest academic health system.

Many families across the country struggle with affordable housing, social isolation, low wages, health problems, high medical costs, and other issues that can cause food insecurity. Individuals or households that are food insecure have insufficient or uncertain access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food insecurity affects more than 35 million people in the United States, including more than 10 million children. In North Carolina, 1.6 million people are food insecure, including one-in-five children.

UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill is ranked nationally across four adult specialties in US News’ 2021-22 “Best Hospitals” report, released today. CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern, NC is nationally ranked in one adult specialty.