UNC Health Blue Ridge has hired a new CEO to lead its healthcare system that includes a 184-bed hospital in Morganton and more than 40 locations across a three-county region. Including an outpatient hospital in Valdese, UNC Health Blue Ridge is licensed for 315 beds.
Gary William Paxson will take the role of president and CEO of UNC Health Blue Ridge on Sept. 3. Paxson has more than 25 years of healthcare experience and had previously worked for the White River Health System in Batesville, Arkansas, since June 2012. He had been CEO of White River since 2018.
Paxson replaces Kathy Bailey, who announced her intent to retire in January. Bailey has been in leadership for almost 19 years and has been CEO of what’s now UNC Health Blue Ridge since January 2013.
In October 2021, UNC Health and Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge finalized a 10-year management services agreement. Financial details weren’t disclosed.
The former Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge had been affiliated with Charlotte-based Atrium Health. UNC Health includes 16 hospitals across the state, including its flagship site in Chapel Hill.
The White River Health System includes a 224-bed hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital and 36 clinics. The system employs 1,700 people, which includes about 100 physicians. UNC Health Blue Ridge employs 1,890 workers, including about 140 physicians.
Batesville, Arkansas, has about 11,000 residents, and is the county seat of Independence County, Arkansas, which has about 38,000 residents and is about 90 miles northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas. Morganton has about 17,600 residents and is the county seat of Burke, which has about 88,000 residents and is about 20 miles west of Hickory.
UNC Health Blue Ridge opened a $38.3 million cancer center last year in Valdese. In August, it plans to open a six-story, $136 million patient tower that will triple the size of its emergency department, which saw more than 48,000 visits last year, and take its intensive care unit from 16 beds to 30 beds. The new ICU will not start taking in patients until spring 2025, according to a spokesperson.
The new patient tower also includes a rooftop helicopter pad. Currently, patients arriving via helicopter are taken to a nearby EMS center and then brought to the hospital by ambulance. Three of the six floors in the new tower will remain empty awaiting future growth.
Paxson says he and his wife, Jody, are excited to start a new chapter in their lives.
“I am passionate about the pursuit of excellence in all tasks assigned, which directly relate to the mission of healthcare — outstanding patient care; every patient, every time,” says Paxson in a statement.
Paxson holds a master’s degree in management of information systems with a concentration in healthcare administration from Bellevue University in Nebraska and a bachelor of science in nursing from Saint Anthony College of Nursing in Illinois. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Paxson has a “proven track record of leadership and dedication to outstanding patient care,” says Mac McCrary, chair of the UNC Health Blue Ridge board of directors, in a release. “We are confident that he will continue moving healthcare forward for our community.”
UNC Health Blue Ridge also serves patients in McDowell and Caldwell counties.