PHOTO BY MARIE FREEMAN This aerial photo shows Appalachian State University’s Leon Levine Hall of Health Sciences. Located in Boone’s medical district, the academic facility opened in 2018.
High-Quality Health Care on the Mountain
B
oone is the health care center of the High Country, and the medical district anchored by the Watauga Medical Center continues to expand and add new state-of-the-art facilities. 2020 was a big year for Watauga Medical Center, a 117bed regional referral medical complex, offering both primary and secondary acute and specialty care. The hospital campus also includes outpatient clinics and a diagnostics center.
42 | Boone My Hometown 2020-21
The hospital received a fivestar rating, the highest achievement level possible, from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The ratings are based on federally mandated hospital data, which
includes more than 50 different quality measurements, such as mortality, re-admission, patient experience, effectiveness of care, timeliness of care and effective use of medical imaging. WMC is one of 407 hospitals
in the United States and one of 13 in North Carolina to receive a five-star quality rating. “I am extremely proud of our hospital’s achievement,” stated Kim Bianca, president of Watauga Medical Center. “The five-star rating underscores our team’s commitment to providing top quality patient care.” In summer 2020, the new Heart & Vascular Center opened at Watauga Medical SEE HEALTH ON PAGE 44
