Goodbye Old Well. UNC Health Care has a new name and logo.
UNC Health Care is overhauling its branding — dropping a word and ditching the iconic image of the Old Well for its new logo.
The health care system, which has hospitals and clinics across the state, will now refer to itself as just UNC Health. It’s the first time it has changed its name, or its logo, since 1998, according to Alan Wolf, a spokesman for UNC Health.
The change is one of many that have come under the leadership of UNC Health CEO Dr. Wesley Burks, who started leading the hospital system at the beginning of 2019.
Burks, who was the executive dean of the UNC School of Medicine and a pediatrician who specializes in childhood food allergies, replaced William Roper, now interim president of the UNC System.
He was appointed after merger talks with Atrium Health in Charlotte broke down. Months into his new role, he also had to deal with the fallout of a New York Times report that found problems in the pediatric cardiology unit at the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. A report from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in August found the hospital had “no current deficiencies” in a review that came after that article.
UNC Health paid just under $1 million for the new branding, Wolf told The News & Observer.
The new brand and logo was created by a Denver-based firm called Monigle, which also provided market research, conducted focus groups and consulted on how to roll out the new brand.
In a statement, he said the new logo was symbolic of the continuing transformation of UNC Health from an old-fashioned hospital system to one that recognizes the technological needs of patients and a changing environment for how health services are paid.
“UNC Health’s transformation strategy boldly defines our roadmap over the next five to 10 years,” Burks said in a statement. “One of the key changes that will position us well to achieve our strategic goals is a new operating model. This is our first major operating model change in decades, and provides us with a modernized and integrated approach to meeting our patients’ needs.
That has meant streamlining the leadership structure of the hospital system, which includes 33,000 employees, 24 hospitals and hospital campuses and hundreds of clinic locations serving patients in every county in the state.
Last November, the health system restructured its leadership as part of an effort to make its large system more integrated and keep patient costs down. As part of that restructuring, Steve Burriss, president of UNC REX, took on a role that put him in chage of the entire Triangle region rather than just one hospital.
UNC Health has been rapidly expanding its services in the Triangle to match the surging population numbers here. Last March it began construction on a new hospital in Holly Springs, with the recognition that it needed more hospital beds in southern Wake County, which is seeing most of the Triangle’s new housing construction. In total, UNC Health is building more than a million square feet of new space around the Triangle, The N&O previously reported.
It also rebranded all of its REX Express Care urgent care centers with the name UNC Urgent Care to create consistency across the state.
In a recognition that its health care costs were growing too quickly, UNC Health has also boosted its partnership with insurers under Burks’ leadership.
Last year, it began working with the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, as part of an effort called Blue Premier. The model, which rewards doctors and hospitals for quality rather than quantity, is designed to limit runaway costs.
The plan called for the sharing of more data between insurers and providers, which, the thinking goes, could decrease the number of unnecessary and redundant procedures.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Goodbye Old Well. UNC Health Care has a new name and logo.."
