Blue Ridge Health Plans New Medical Facility to Strengthen Western North Carolina’s Physician Workforce
Blue Ridge Health plans to build a major new medical facility in Hendersonville to strengthen a physician training pipeline that has helped meet healthcare needs across Western North Carolina for decades.
The three-story facility will become the new home of the Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency Program, operated through a longstanding partnership among Blue Ridge Health, the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), and UNC Health Pardee.
The partnership combines community-based patient care, graduate medical education, and hospital-based clinical training to prepare family physicians for practice in Western North Carolina and other communities where access to care is needed most.
Since the residency program’s first graduating class in 1999, 98 physicians have completed the program. Today, 92 percent practice in medically underserved communities and 37 percent practice in Western North Carolina, demonstrating the role locally based physician training can play in building and sustaining the region’s healthcare workforce.
“The new Blue Ridge Health Family Medical Building will be an investment not only in a new facility, but in the future of patient care and family medicine physician training in Western North Carolina,” said Blue Ridge Health CEO Tammy Greenwell. “For decades, this partnership has demonstrated what is possible when community-based care, medical education, and hospital training work together. A new state-of-the-art medical facility will give our residents, providers, and care teams a space designed specifically for how they work and learn, while creating room to meet the evolving needs of the communities we serve.”
Blue Ridge Health has acquired approximately two acres at 617 and 621 Whitted Street in Hendersonville for the new facility. Its location near UNC Health Pardee and the Pardee Health Sciences Center will allow resident physicians to remain close to the hospital for inpatient rotations and on-call responsibilities while continuing their community-based outpatient training through Blue Ridge Health.
The planned facility will address limitations of the residency program’s current clinic space and provide additional room for patient care, didactic learning, faculty precepting, collaboration and clinical workflow. Additional exam rooms will increase clinical capacity while a larger, more functional environment will better support resident physicians, faculty and the professionals who work alongside them.
“Training family physicians in a community-based setting gives residents the opportunity to learn medicine while developing a deep understanding of the patients and communities they serve,” said Dr. Daniel Yoder, program director of the Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency Program. “A facility designed around both clinical care and medical education strengthens that experience, providing the space our physician residents and faculty need to learn, collaborate, and care for patients.”
The first floor is planned to include the family medicine residency clinical space and a drive-through pharmacy. The second floor will provide residency offices, didactic and conference space, and other administrative functions. The third floor will be shell space reserved for future expansion and growth.
The facility will build upon a partnership in which each organization plays a distinct role in preparing family physicians. Blue Ridge Health serves as the clinical sponsor and provides the community-based outpatient environment where resident physicians care for diverse patient populations. MAHEC provides the academic framework, curriculum and residency accreditation. UNC Health Pardee serves as the primary inpatient training hospital, where residents gain experience in intensive care, surgery, labor and delivery, and other hospital-based care.
“The strength of the Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency Program has always been the partnership behind it,” said James M. Kirby II, president and CEO of UNC Health Pardee. “Physician residents gain experience across the full continuum of care, from caring for patients in a community-based setting to managing more complex hospital-based needs. This investment will strengthen that training environment and help prepare physicians who are equipped to serve the health care needs of Western North Carolina.”
The conceptual design for the facility took shape during a three-day collaborative design charrette that brought Blue Ridge Health and family medicine residency stakeholders together with the architectural team. Participants included organizational and residency leadership, clinical and administrative teams, and family medicine residents.
The transitional-style design emphasizes a warm, welcoming environment rather than a traditional institutional setting. Plans include exposed timber framing, native stone, stucco and glass; abundant natural light; a covered entrance; accessible parking; extensive landscaping and outdoor space. A terraced, three-level parking structure is designed to minimize its visual impact.
The new medical facility is currently in the planning and development stage. Blue Ridge Health anticipates launching a capital campaign in 2027 to support construction, with the goal of beginning construction in early 2028.