In 1925, James B. Duke willed $4 million to establish Duke University Hospital and its medical school. His goal: to improve health care in the Carolinas, then a relatively poor region lacking in hospitals and care providers. Duke Health has devoted itself to that goal ever since, making sure that people across the region are able to get the medical care they need regardless of their ability to pay.
Duke provides quality care to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, Duke provided a total community benefit and investment of $1.088 billion, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. Of that cost, $159 million represents financial assistance for 303,830 patients, nearly all of whom call North Carolina home.
Duke’s commitment to its patients allows the Health System to ensure those who are uninsured or can’t pay for care because of financial hardship receive the treatment they need.
Community Collaborations
Duke collaborates with many community organizations to improve health care in its hometown, Durham, North Carolina. Examples of local outreach programs include:
- Primary care Wellness Centers within four Durham public schools, serving mostly low-income youngsters: George Watts Elementary, Glenn Elementary, EK Powe Elementary and Southern High schools. Clinics operate during the school year and provide medical and mental health services. The elementary school clinics also provide bilingual mental health services. All four Wellness Centers offer medical coverage during weekends and school holidays.
- Just for Us, providing primary care, case management, nutrition counseling and occupational therapy services for frail, medically complex elderly patients and adults with disabilities in their apartments, based in 13 public or subsidized senior housing sites operated in conjunction with Lincoln Community Health Center.
- Lyon Park Clinic, a neighborhood clinic providing primary care to low-income Durham patients in a community center in Durham's West End, operated in conjunction with Lincoln Community Health Center.
- Walltown Neighborhood Clinic, providing primary care to low-income patients at 815 Broad Street in Durham’s Walltown neighborhood, operated in conjunction with Lincoln Community Health Center.
- Local Access to Coordinated Healthcare (LATCH), providing bilingual in-home health education on chronic disease, patient support and advocacy for uninsured Durham residents; since 2002, more than 18,000 uninsured residents have enrolled in LATCH.
- Learning Together, providing health education in selected public schools, assistance to patients to apply for public benefits, and support to Duke’s partner agencies through Duke staff and trained health learners.
- ALMA (Amigas Latinas Motivando el Alma), a joint research program with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to train Latinas in mental health coping skills and teaching those skills to their peers in Durham and Chatham counties.
- BieneSTAR, a bilingual mental health service for Latino families and children enrolled in the school-based clinics at EK Powe, George Watts, and Glenn elementary schools.
- African American Health Improvement Partnership, providing health coaching and peer support to approximately 400 African Americans with Type 2 diabetes in Durham, and supporting the creation of sustainable support groups and strengthened health ministries.
- Holton Wellness Center, located in the Holton Career and Resource Center, a neighborhood clinic providing primary care to low-income patients in conjunction with Lincoln Community Health Center.
Beyond Durham, Duke is making strides to improve the health of communities throughout the Carolinas:
- ALMA (Amigas Latinas Motivando el Alma), a joint research program with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to train Latinas in mental health coping skills and teaching those skills to their peers in Durham, Wake and Chatham counties.
- Northern Piedmont Community Care Network serves fifty primary care practices in Durham, Granville, Franklin, Vance, Person and Warren Counties by providing their 60,000 Medicaid patients with in-home chronic-disease management, hospital transitional care (hospital to home), medication reconciliation, social work, health education and patient advocacy.
Community Health Needs Assessment
As a not-for-profit health system, Duke University Health System is committed to caring for our patients, nurturing the sick and strengthening the well. We honor our tax-exempt status and our responsibility to the counties we serve through various programs, activities and partnerships that are aimed at improving the health of our communities.
The details of our community involvement can be found in the following reports, prepared by Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital and Duke Raleigh Hospital. These reports were created and are posted in accordance with the community health needs assessment requirements (CHNA) added by the Affordable Care Act and codified as part of the Internal Revenue Code requirements of section 501(r)(3).
The hospitals worked in collaboration with Durham and Wake counties to assess community health care needs.
Duke University Hospital
- FY 2023 Progress Report and FY 2024 Implementation Plan
- FY 2022 Progress Report and FY 2023 Implementation Plan
- FY 2021 Progress Report and FY 2022 Implementation Plan
- FY 2020 Progress Report and FY 2021 Implementation Plan
- FY 2019 Progress Report and FY 2020 Implementation Plan
- FY 2019 Implementation Plan
- FY 2018 Progress Report
- FY 2017 Progress Report and FY 2018 Implementation Plan
- FY 2016 Progress Report and FY 2017 Implementation Plan
- FY 2015 Progress Report and FY 2016 Implementation Plan
- FY 2013 & FY 2014 Updates
Duke Regional Hospital
- FY 2023 Progress Report and FY 2024 Implementation Plan
- FY 2022 Progress Report and FY 2023 Implementation Plan
- FY 2021 Progress Report and FY 2022 Implementation Plan
- FY 2020 Progress Report and FY 2021 Implementation Plan
- FY 2019 Progress Report and FY 2020 Implementation Plan
- FY 2019 Progress Report and Implementation Plan
- FY 2017 Progress Report and FY 2018 Implementation Plan
- FY 2016 Progress Report and FY 2017 Implementation Plan
- FY 2015 Progress Report and FY 2016 Implementation Plan
- FY 2014 Progress Report and FY 2015 Implementation Plan
Duke Raleigh Hospital, a campus of DUH
- FY 2023 Progress Report and FY 2024-2025 Implementation Plan
- FY 2022 Progress Report and FY 2023 Implementation Plan
- FY 2021 Progress Report and FY 2022 Implementation Plan
- FY 2020 Progress Report and FY 2021 Implementation Plan
- FY 2019 Progress Report and FY 2020 Implementation Plan
- FY 2018 Progress Report and FY 2019 Implementation Plan
- FY 2017 Progress Report and FY 2018 Implementation Plan
- FY 2016 Progress Report and FY 2017 Implementation Plan
- FY 2015 Progress Report and FY 2016 Implementation Plan
- FY 2014 Progress Report and FY 2015 Implementation Plan
