North Carolina
Deadline Arrives for Acute Bed Expansion Plans in North Carolina
Wednesday marks the deadline for health systems to submit proposals for an acute bed expansion in North Carolina.
Four major North Carolina health systems are vying to build or expand hospitals in Buncombe County. AdventHealth, Mission Health, Novant Health and UNC Health have all expressed interest in bids.
Why It Matters
Whichever health system wins the bid will be able to expand its area of care to the region. This area covers 23 counties, including Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Jackson. Western North Carolina is a mountain region with a population of about 1.15 million people, accounting for about 11 percent of the state’s total population.
What To Know
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) included a need for 129 acute care beds in Buncombe County in 2025 in its latest State Medical Facilities Plan (SMFP).
UNC Health told Newsweek on Wednesday that it submitted a plan with the state’s Certificate of Need office to develop UNC Health West Medical Center (UNC Health West), a new, 129-bed community hospital in Buncombe County.
The new facility plan includes emergency care, labor and delivery services, inpatient acute care and adult psychiatry services.
“UNC Health West builds on UNC Health Pardee’s record of public service and proven experience and dedication to the western region and UNC Health’s commitment to the health and wellness of our state, resulting in increased access and improved care for the residents of Buncombe and surrounding counties,” UNC Health told Newsweek.
Novant Health announced in September that it submitted its proposal to build a hospital in western North Carolina.
The plan includes acute care beds, an emergency room, imaging and pharmacy services.
“We remain deeply committed to extending high-quality, compassionate care to Western North Carolina,” a Novant Health spokesperson told Newsweek. “Over the past year, we’ve worked closely with the community and local physicians to grow our specialty care network in the region and have applied for a 34-bed hospital in Buncombe County.”
Novant is based in Winston-Salem and has 19 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient locations and physicians’ clinics in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Mission Health, part of HCA Healthcare, expressed its plan to apply for the 129 beds, confirming the plan to the Asheville Watchdog earlier this month.
AdventHealth has also thrown its hat in the ring. The health system said in July that this expansion “reflects the voices of the community and AdventHealth’s commitment to delivering more access, more choice, and more whole-person care to Western North Carolina.”
“This hospital is more than a location—it is a vision,” Brandon Nudd, president and CEO for AdventHealth Hendersonville and AdventHealth Polk, said in a statement. “It is a promise to Western North Carolina that more not-for-profit, whole-person care is not only coming but also evolving. These additional beds will allow us to meet the growing needs of our region and deliver the high-acuity, compassionate care our communities deserve.”
AdventHealth is also building a hospital in Weaverville, North Carolina. This facility was approved by the NCDHHS in 2022 after the North Carolina State Medical Facilities Plan listed a need for 67 acute care beds to serve Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey Counties.
Mission Health/HCA appealed the decision, leading to a legal battle in 2023 that has delayed the process. In November 2024, AdventHealth announced that the state approved an additional 26 beds for the Weaverville location.
What Happens Next
Per North Carolina’s Certificate of Need (CON) program, the major health construction projects require state approval. DHSR has from 90 to 150 days to review a CON application. Each application is reviewed against the review criteria in the CON Law and any applicable rules adopted by DHSR.
The review process will begin in November.
Newsweek reached out to AdventHealth and Mission Health for comment.
Have an announcement or news to share? Contact the Newsweek Health Care team at health.care@newsweek.com.
There is some sad news from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s popular Barn Owl Live Cam.
Wildlife officials say a Great Horned Owl entered the barn Wednesday around midnight and killed one of the barn owl owlets. Biologists have not been able to determine which owlet was lost.
They have confirmed it was one of the three youngest birds in the nest. The Wildlife Commission says the incident is heartbreaking but also a natural part of life in the wild.
Great Horned Owls are one of the main predators of Barn Owls, and encounters between the two species do happen. The attack was captured on the live camera.
Officials say the video also shows an extremely rare moment when the adult female Barn Owl fought the Great Horned Owl on top of the nest box. Despite the loss, the surviving owlets are expected to continue growing over the coming weeks.
They will lose their fluffy down feathers, begin exploring outside the barn, and continue developing hunting skills.
The Wildlife Commission says some of the young owls could leave the nest as early as July.
After leaving the nest, they usually travel alone and may eventually move hundreds of miles from where they hatched. The Barn Owl Live Cam remains available for the public to watch.
(WLOS) — In a tragic update, one of the baby barn owls being monitored by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has died after a great horned owl entered the barn and killed the owlet. The barn owlets had attracted worldwide attention through the wildlife commission’s ongoing observation efforts.
Officials with N.C. Wildlife said it is not yet clear which owlet was killed, but confirmed it was one of the three youngest.
The wildlife commission said it captured a photo of the great horned owl and the adult female barn owl fighting on top of the box, calling it an “extremely rare encounter to capture on camera.”
PHOTOS: OWLETS ‘HOO’ GAINED WORLDWIDE FAME ARE GROWING QUICKLY INTO YOUNG ADULTS
The wildlife commission said that while this loss is tragic, it is a common encounter because great horned owls are a top predator of barn owls. Officials also said this will likely not be the last encounter.
Over the next few weeks, the commission said viewers will likely see the remaining owlets start exploring, leaving the barn and learning to hunt. The fledglings may leave the barn as early as July to start hunting on their own, according to the commission.
You’ve got to feel terrible for former North Carolina standout Henri Veesaar right now. When he announced that he was leaving Chapel Hill to take his game to the NBA, plenty of eyebrows were raised. However, he was getting first-round grades, which made the decision a bit easy for him. That call has come back to backfire on him.
The first round of the NBA Draft has wrapped up, and the star big man never heard his name called. You’ve got to be kidding. There was always a bit of a worry that Veesaar would fall to the second round, but the recent buzz calmed worries there. Now, though, this setback has surely proverbially slapped him in the face a bit:
UNC’s Henri Veesaar does not get selected in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft. He slips into the second round.
Turned down between $3-4 million to return to UNC? Maybe more?
— Ross Martin (@RossMartinNC) June 24, 2026
Henri Veesaar falling to the second round of the NBA Draft is a bit of a stunner
It’s no secret that Michael Malone and his new UNC staff were quite aggressive in their pursuits of bringing him back to Chapel Hill, as he would have easily had the Tar Heels in the Top 15-20 conversation. At first, with mock drafts popping up with him as a second-rounder, it felt like a return to the ACC was going to be in the works. The narrative changed there not long after, though.
He indeed bolted for the NBA Draft, with the assumption that he was going to be a first-rounder. Veesaar took a bit of a chance there, and things just did not go to plan for him. Let’s make one thing clear here too: we’re not happy in any way. With Veesaar leaving, Carolina fans were wishing him the best, the same way they were for Caleb Wilson.
Wilson ended up getting his life-changing news early during draft night, with the Chicago Bulls taking him off the board at No. 4 overall. Things were only made better for Wilson and North Carolina as a whole with Hubert Davis on hand for the former 5-star freshman’s big moment. It was a surprise not many of us were ready for.
On the flip side of things, Veesaar was left waiting for his special moment, but it never arrived. Is it possible that he’s having some serious regrets over things? We don’t want to speak for Veesaar or make any assumptions, but this just sucks as a whole for him. After averaging 17 points and eight rebounds per game, while taking home all-conference honors, it’s a bit of a stunner that his draft slide has taken place like this.
Had Veesaar returned to school, North Carolina’s 2026-27 outlook would have been looking much stronger. Instead, Malone went overseas to bring in Sayon Keita and Alexandros Samodurov to help carry the load near the glass. That helps, but replacing Veesaar was always going to be a difficult task, as he’s a dominant force. We can play the ‘what if’ game all we want had he stayed in Chapel Hill for one more season, but that’s pointless. Still, it’s now feeling like Veesaar got some bad advice, and that playing for Malone would have been the best thing for him next campaign.
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