Duke University agreed to join UNC Health’s plan to build a $2 billion children’s health system in the Triangle that would be the state’s first freestanding hospital dedicated to children.
Last year, N.C. lawmakers appropriated $320 million to UNC Health for such a hospital. Now the project will be a joint venture between two of the world’s top academic health systems with combined annual revenue of more than $13 billion.
UNC Health is affiliated with the state of North Carolina and the UNC System, which oversees 16 four-year universities, including UNC Chapel Hill. Duke is among the world’s wealthiest private universities, with an endowment of $11.9 billion as of June 30.
The plan now calls for a 500-bed hospital, outpatient care center and behavioral health center. A partnership can provide more highly specialized pediatric care to serve families from across the state needing complex care, officials said.
UNC, Duke and other North Carolina providers now mainly treat children in existing general hospitals. Atrium Health, the state’s largest hospital operator, started Levine’s Children Hospital to focus on younger patients in a facility connected to its flagship Charlotte hospital. UNC and Duke have similar arrangements.
No site has been identified for the campus, but it is expected to be in a central Triangle location on at least 100 acres. That compares with UNC Rex’s 500-acre campus in west Raleigh, WRAL reported.
The partners plan to break ground on the new campus by 2027, with construction of the campus expected to take about six years. Some services, such as the children’s behavioral health hospital, ambulatory surgical center or medical office building could open before the full project is complete, according to the universities
“This is an unprecedented partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health, aimed at elevating the care that’s available for all children in North Carolina,” said Dr. Wesley Burks, CEO of UNC Health and dean of the UNC School of Medicine, in a release. “I’m delighted to work with our colleagues at Duke to create something that will make all North Carolinians proud and change lives for generations to come.”
Duke University Health System CEO Craig Albanese called it “a tremendous and unique opportunity to work together to reimagine how we deliver life-changing care to our region’s most vulnerable and we are grateful for the support of our state’s legislature.”
The effort will “foster groundbreaking pediatric research and first-class education and training for health care professionals,” said Dr. Mary Klotman, executive vice president for Health Affairs at Duke.
Duke Health and UNC Health are dominant players in the Triangle hospital market, along with WakeMed Hospitals. This venture is sure to attract scrutiny by regulators who monitor market share data.
Gov. Josh Stein and N.C. Senator Phil Berger painted the hospital as serving the entire state. Atrium Health’s Levine Children’s Hospital, which isn’t part of the Triangle project, is nationally ranked.
At a news conference, Stein deflected a question about any potential antitrust fallout. “These guys have excellent legal counsel and have worked through any of the implications,” the former state attorney general said.
Berger said the Triangle project will “be among the largest economic development projects in the history of the state.”
Duke Health had “excess” of $656 million in its 2024 fiscal year, using the term favored by not-for-profit groups. It had $6.8 billion in annual revenue. In its fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, UNC Health had excess of $334 million and about $6.1 billion in annual revenue.
Richard Moore, the CEO of Southern Pines-based First Bancorp, will chair campaign the steering committee for North Carolina Children’s, assisted by the UNC Health Foundation and Duke Health Development and Alumni Affairs. He is a former state treasurer.
