Duke Health and Novant will partner to open new medical offices
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Duke Health, one of the Triangle's largest employers, is entering into a partnership with another major North Carolina health care provider to expand its footprint.
Why it matters: Duke and Winston-Salem-based Novant Health are teaming up to build multiple medical office campuses across the state, though the exact number hasn't been decided yet.
Driving the news: The systems said they expect to begin construction on the first campuses later this year, with construction expected to take 18 months.
- No locations have been announced yet, but Morgan Jones, chief strategy officer at Duke Health, told Axios that the partnership will help support growing populations in the Triangle, the Triad and the Charlotte area.
What they're saying: "As the population continues to grow, we want to make sure that our wait times don't grow, and that we have locations in convenient geographic proximity to the growing population," Jones told Axios.
Between the lines: Novant Health has been trying to gain a larger presence in the Triangle, filing a certificate-of-need application with state regulators last year for a hospital in Knightdale.
- Regulators did not approve Novant's proposal in the latest round of applications.
- Jones said these medical office campuses would not be subject to that approval process.
At the same time, Duke has been looking to expand westward.
- In December, it signed an agreement to buy Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville for $280 million.
- Novant had previously tried to buy that hospital but was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission, which said the deal would have reduced competition and driven up prices in the area. Duke will also need regulatory approval.
The big picture: Health care systems across the country, Jones said, are thinking more about opportunities to collaborate rather than compete with other providers.
- The partnership with Novant is Duke's second major collaboration announced this year.
- In January, Duke and UNC Health came together to announce they would join forces to open a new children's hospital in the Triangle with financial backing from the state.