At long last, North Carolina will have a freestanding children’s hospital

On the basketball court, Duke and the University of North Carolina have engaged in a heated rivalry spanning generations.

Stephanie Davis, UNC Children’s Physician in Chief, left, and Morgan Jones, chief strategy officer of Duke Health, say they're excited to see the creation of NC Children's, the first standalone children's hospital in North Carolina.

Now, Duke Health and UNC Health are teaming up to build a children’s hospital and a campus offering a variety of pediatric services. The two institutions are creating NC Children’s, a new health system which will include a behavioral health hospital, an outpatient facility, and a medical office building.

The project’s cost is estimated at $2 billion to $3 billion. The plans call for the children’s hospital to include 500 beds.

Officials with both Duke Health and UNC Health have been hoping to build a children’s hospital for years. The state of North Carolina has agreed to provide $320 million for the pediatric hospital.

It’ll be the first freestanding children’s hospital in North Carolina. Stephanie Davis, UNC Children’s Physician in Chief, says that North Carolina is the most populous state in America without a standalone pediatric hospital.

“This is the best thing for kids in North Carolina,” Davis tells Chief Healthcare Executive®.

“Coming together really allows us to build the scale of a hospital and the type of campus that is needed to care for the population here in North Carolina and beyond, and it's really going to be fantastic for children and families for generations to come,” she adds. “So yeah, we're super excited.”

Officials say the plan is to begin construction in 2027, with the project expected to take six to eight years. The organizations hope the children’s hospital will open in the early 2030s. Some components of the campus, including the behavioral health hospital and ambulatory center, could open much sooner, officials say.

Duke and UNC say they are looking for a 100-acre campus in the Triangle region, which includes Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

Morgan Jones, chief strategy officer of Duke Health, says the pediatric hospital campus has been sorely needed, and that need has grown as North Carolina’s population has surged in recent years.

“I’m most excited just for the opportunity for Duke and UNC to come together to best serve our pediatric population across our state and our region,” Jones tells Chief Healthcare Executive®. “This has been something we've been working on for almost a decade.”

When the two institutions held a public announcement about the project Tuesday, Davis says she and others became emotional. “There were a lot of tears,” she says.

Growing needs

Some families have taken their kids out of North Carolina to go to pediatric hospitals in Washington, D.C. or Georgia, Jones says. NC Children’s will be the first standalone children’s hospital in the Carolinas.

“We're really excited to be able to keep our patients and our populations local, as well as hopefully serve a broader region as well,” Jones says.

Given the rapid population gains in North Carolina, and the Triangle Region in particular, officials say they need a 100-acre site to accommodate future growth.

“That is part of why we want a very large amount of land in the Triangle,” Davis says. “We've seen at other freestanding children's hospitals and facilities, we visited a number of them, that the ability to grow is critical. So that is part of the plan.”

As part of the venture, UNC Health and Duke Health plan to transfer all of their pediatric clinical services and operations to NC Children’s.

Dr. Wesley Burks, CEO of UNC Health, left, and Dr. Craig Albanese of Duke Health celebrate the plans to create NC Children’s Health, a new pediatric health system.

Both Duke Health and UNC Health say that academic research will play an important role in the pediatric health system.

“Our mission is to not only care for children across North Carolina and beyond, but also to provide cutting-edge research for those children and to train the next generation,” Davis says.

Duke and UNC Health secured critical funding from the state for the project, but they say they will also need a strong philanthropy campaign. Analysts note that pediatric hospitals often enjoy more success in their philanthropy efforts, since donors can see the value in helping sick children.

When asked about the prospect of fundraising success for a children’s hospital, Jones says she’s optimistic that donors will want to support building the first independent children’s hospital in North Carolina. “That is our hope, and that is our belief,” Jones says.

By combining their efforts, Duke and UNC Health say they’ll be able to attract more physicians.

“Nationally, the number of pediatricians going into specialties has dropped off, which means we really need to work together to be able to provide that specialty care for children with complex needs,” Davis says. “So this is going to be so good at so many levels.”

Jones says she’s confident that NC Children’s will draw top talent, backed by both Duke and UNC Health.

“We believe that together, we're actually going to be one of the most sought after locations for people to want to come and work, whether that be the clinicians, the researchers, or the overall care teams,” Jones says.

Davis also says the new campus will also expand training opportunities for other staff for pediatric careers, including a variety of therapists.

“We'll be training staff specifically for the care of children,” Davis says.

• Read more: Children’s hospitals are still struggling with staffing shortages

Designed for families

Officials say the campus will likely include some other developments for families who may need to stay at the hospital for extended periods, including hotels and restaurants.

The pediatric hospital is going to be designed with an eye on helping families be comfortable.

“We have families who are part of our design teams to help with us with that, really making sure that we have space within the clinic and with the hospital, and actually a lot of large green space for families, so that they feel like they're in an environment that is specifically to care for children and to help care for the families. Because when we take care of children, we take care of the whole family,” Davis says.

Jones says the input of families will be valuable in designing the hospital.

She says, “We have patients and families included in our user group meetings to understand when you first enter a campus, what is it that you want to see? How can we make the experience better for you? How can we make it easier for you to navigate? How can we help you understand the expectations of what services are going to look like?”

Both Davis and Jones say they expect Duke and UNC to work well together. In separate conversations, they both mentioned, with some humor, that the two schools will square off on the court again Saturday.

“The best teams, I think, work hard together, and also play hard together. And so we are really excited for this Saturday's game,” Jones says. “We will be sporting our darker blue, which we believe is a prettier shade of blue. They will be in their lighter shade of blue, and we cannot wait for the outcome.”