The American Society for Health Care Engineering has named UNC Health Blue Ridge the winner of the 2025 Excellence in Health Care Facility Management Award. Each year, the FM Excellence Award recognizes individuals or facilities teams that implement new or innovative programs or processes to optimize the health care physical environment and improve patient care.
For 120 years, UNC Health Blue Ridge has served as the nexus of healthcare in rural western North Carolina. The hospital’s new six-story pavilion on its central campus in Morganton, North Carolina was planned to meet the needs of the growing patient population and modernize its infrastructure. Completed in August 2024, the new facility expands the original hospital from 338,060 square feet to 557,181 square feet, encompassing 30 updated intensive care unit and emergency department rooms and dedicated behavioral health spaces. The expansion also enabled UNC Health Blue Ridge to centralize inpatient care across the system and increase capacity to 214 inpatient beds, as well as help the hospital secure Level III trauma center designation.
The project team enacted an adaptive and highly collaborative design process, inviting perspectives from a range of clinical and operational teams, using value engineering and incorporating low-maintenance materials sourced locally. These strategies reinforced values of teamwork, resilience and innovation, helping the team deliver on its goals in the face of extraordinary obstacles including disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain issues and significant internal leadership changes.
The internal redesign deployed an evidence-based approach that has already improved clinician workflow and delivered improvements to patient care. To date, patient wait times have decreased by 33% and ED visit stay durations are down by 9 minutes on average, while centralizing inpatient care has allowed the system to increase visit volume by 3%.
The facility also incorporates modern technologies such as a digital communication system with electronic signage, as well as adaptations to facilitate reduced operational expenses, promote resiliency and meet energy reduction goals. These include high-efficiency HVAC systems, occupancy-based lighting and water-saving infrastructure, as well as stormwater management and streamlined mechanical systems to further reduce long-term maintenance expenses. For more information about the FM Excellence Award and this year’s winner, visit ashe.org/awards.
