There are two main hospital systems in the Charlotte area, Presbyterian Healthcare and Carolinas Healthcare System(CMC). Between these two systems you’ll find hundreds of locations throughout the Charlotte metro area. Both have a long history of outstanding performance.
Presbyterian Hospital
Presbyterian Hospital opened in 1903 as a 20-bed hospital on North Church Street, located in now uptown Charlotte. Later, the hospital moved to the Arlington Hotel on West Trade Street and offered 45 beds. Below the hospital on the first floor were the N.C. Medical College, a barbershop, fruit stand and the “Last Chance” saloon.
In 1918 Elizabeth College merged with a school in Virginia, and Presbyterian used the money it had raised to buy the 20-acre campus located just outside of the city limits at 200 Hawthorne Lane. This new facility more than doubled its size, from 50 to 100 beds, making it Charlotte’s largest hospital. People from all over the Carolinas streamed to Presbyterian for medical care.
The Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation was formed in 1980 as the hospital’s fundraising arm. One of its first successes resulted in a School of Nursing building designed and built for the school.
1994 marked the opening of Presbyterian Hospital Matthews, a 102-bed community hospital offering emergency care, inpatient and outpatient services and a family maternity center.In the 1990s, Hemby Children’s Hospital, a hospital-within-a-hospital, opened to meet the needs of children and families. It provides family-centered care and promotes play to encourage faster healing.
In 1996, Presbyterian continued its tradition of being a regional and statewide leader in providing cancer services and hospice care by opening a new Cancer Center. Comprehensive services include radiation oncology, clinical research, inpatient oncology and a stem cell transplant unit.
In 1997, Presbyterian Healthcare System and Carolinas Medicorp Inc. of Winston-Salem announced a merger to form a new healthcare company, Novant Health. Presbyterian Healthcare became the Southern Piedmont Region of Novant Health. The two nonprofit companies serve an area of more than 3.4 million people in North Carolina, southern Virginia and northern South Carolina.
A year later in 1998, Novant Health acquired full ownership of Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital, one of six in the nation devoted solely to the diagnosis, care and treatment of injuries and diseases of the bones and joints.
1999 marked the opening of Buddy Kemp Cancer Support Center, a unique community facility offering counseling and educational support for cancer patients and their families.
Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville opened in October 2004. The 50-bed, $55.7 million facility has a total of 165,000 square feet. Services include an emergency department, five operating rooms, 36 medical-surgical beds, four intensive care unit beds, eight labor-delivery-postpartum beds and two nursery beds.
In 2008, The American Nurses Credentialing Center honored Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews, and Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville with the prestigious Magnet designation. As the highest honor in nursing, only five percent of hospiatls natinowide have earned Magnet designation for excellence in nursing care. For nurses and clinicians, Magnet designation is the gold standard of care and represents and environment of autonomy, professional advancement, teamwork and collaboration among physicians, nurses and other clinicians. For patients and families, Magnet designation signifies high quality in care.
Carolinas HealthCare System
Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS) is the largest healthcare system in the Carolinas, and the third largest non-profit public system in the nation. CHS owns, leases or manages 29 hospitals in North and South Carolina, including Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte and CMC-NorthEast in Concord, a 457-bed medical center, which is home to Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital.
CHS employs over 1,400 physicians who practice in more than 500 care locations. CHS also operates rehabilitation hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgery centers, home health agencies, radiation therapy centers and physical therapy facilities. Together, these operations comprise over 6,000 licensed beds and employ more than 44,000 full-time or part-time employees.
CHS’s flagship facility is Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) in Charlotte, an 874-bed hospital with a Level I trauma center, a research institute and a large number of specialty treatment units including heart, cancer, organ transplant, and behavioral health. CMC also serves as one of North Carolina’s five Academic Medical Center Teaching Hospitals, providing residency training for over 250 physicians in 18 specialties. CMC is listed as a “Best Hospital” by U.S.News & World Report for urology, and has been designated 11 times as Charlotte’s “Consumer’s Choice Preferred Hospital” by the National Research Corporation.
