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Novant Health reports $50 million commitment, renovation and residency progress at Pender hospital
Summary
Novant Health updated the Pender County Board of Commissioners on the first-year progress of its purchase and investment commitment for Novant Health Pender Medical Center, reporting more than $4.1 million in initial investments, facility renovations, expanded services and the launch of a family medicine residency program.
PENDER COUNTY, N.C. June 16, 2025 Novant Health leadership told the Pender County Board of Commissioners on June 16 that the health system is following through on a ten-year, $50 million commitment tied to its purchase of the former Pender hospital and outlined renovations, staffing and program milestones from the first 18 months under Novant management.
Novantf201s local president, Ruth Glaser, said the asset purchase agreement commits the system to invest $50 million over 10 years to sustain and expand inpatient and outpatient services. Glaser highlighted a list of actions Novant has completed or begun since taking over in December 2023:
- Recruitment of a full-time hospitalist medical director employed by the hospital and additions of advanced practice providers to the emergency department. - Establishment of a family medicine residency program; Novant matched the first class of family medicine residents and signed a second faculty member. - Investments in imaging and scanner upgrades, a new free-standing infusion center, telemedicine wiring of inpatient beds (with grant support) and accelerated facility remediation of bed-tower floors. Glaser said the organization spent "just a little over $4,100,000" in the first year on commitments and an additional about $6.9 million on renovations and furniture, fixtures and equipment.
Glaser said the hospital has increased local inpatient admissions (she cited a more-than-300% increase from a prior baseline for inpatients admitted locally rather than transferred) and reopened an acute and swing bed unit on February 10, 2025. Novant also converted to the Epic electronic medical record platform used across the system.
Partnerships: Novant said it is collaborating with Black River Health and Cape Fear Memorial Foundation on residency and building expansion grants. Glaser noted grants and foundation support targeted wiring patient beds for telemedicine consults and to expand residency and training infrastructure.
Why it matters: The Novant investment affects local access to care, clinician training pipelines and the countyf201s health services footprint. A residency pipeline and enhanced inpatient capacity are likely to keep more higher-acuity patients close to home.
Ending: Commissioners thanked Novant for the update and asked staff to continue tracking the systemf201s stated capital commitments per the asset purchase agreement.
