Prince William Hospital in Manassas to Undergo Name Change

Prince William Hospital in Manassas is set to undergo a name change and become Novant Health Prince William Medical Center, the hospital announced this week.

Novant Health—the North Carolina-based umbrella organization over the Manassas hospital—is executing the name change as part of a strategic plan to unify and brand all of its 13 facilities in four different states, hospital officials said.

 All of hospital names in the system will eventually carry the brand name “Novant Health", according to a release issued by the system. 

 “Over the past 15 years, Novant Health has grown into a sizeable regional health system,” Carl Armato, president and CEO of Novant Health said in the release.

 “In 2013, we will formally join our system under one brand to better serve our communities and bring efficiencies to our operations. Together, our employees and physician partners will unify to create an unmatched healthcare experience for our patients.”

 The system is expected to begin rolling out its new brand across the board in April.

And with the new brand comes the adoption of a new logo that hospital administrators say will signify the strength of Novant Health.

The new logo and the brand identity will be incorporated throughout the year in all Novant Health care facilities.

 “We have made significant progress to transform healthcare, but the next, logical step in our journey is to tie our system together,” Armato said. 

“By unifying under the Novant Health brand, we are signaling to our patients and our communities that whether you seek care at a Novant Health facility in North or South Carolina—or Northern Virginia or Georgia—you should expect an unmatched experience including access when and where our patients want it at an affordable price. We want to make healthcare remarkable. That is our promise.”

 Patients and passersbys will probably first notice the visual changes to the hospital, but it’s more important to note the system’s steps to make healthcare “remarkable,” said Melissa Robson, president of Prince William Health System and chief operating officer of the Northern Virginia Market.

 Novant Health is also implementing open access for patients along with real-time online appointment scheduling, e-visits and collaborative patient-clinician care, staff said. 

 Since its inception in 1997, Novant Health officials said the system has been reaching out to improve patient care.

 The Novant Health system’s “search and rescue” program has diagnosed about 5,000 previously undiagnosed cases of Type 2 diabetes by screening all the patients it admits for the condition, staff said.

 The health system also won the Codman Award for its 2005 hand-washing  campaign, memorable because it focused on patient safety and encouraged them to have a proactive role in their health care, Novant Health staff said. 

 Three years after the hand-washing campaign started, hospital officials said cases of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) a type of staph infection, dropped 63 percent. Meanwhile more than 3,000 hospitals emulated Novant Health's program, staff said.

 More information on the system’s changes is at NovantHealth.org/remarkable.

What do you think of the new name and forthcoming signage at Novant Health Prince William Medical Center? Will people refer to the hospital by its new name right away? Tell us in the comments.