Behavioral Health

  • Support comprehensive access to resources for our behavioral health patients to ensure that they receive the right care at the right time in the right place, regardless of insurance status.
  • Support legislation to fully fund all existing in-patient facilities, including the 3-way bed program for uninsured patients.
  • Support community-based behavioral health services, with an emphasis on early intervention and treatment to address the root causes of inequality for behavioral health patients.
  • Support greater state enforcement of federal behavioral health parity laws that require insurers to cover behavioral health services on par as other covered health benefits, including robust provider networks and equitable reimbursement formulas for providers.

Certificate of Need

  • Support the preservation of the state’s current Certificate of Need law, thereby protecting access to care for medically underserved populations and preventing oversupply that can lead to higher healthcare costs for patients.

Economic Development

  • Support efforts to attract and retain talent in North Carolina, align degree production with workforce needs, and promote innovation and entrepreneurship. Duke is a key partner in state economic development strategies. 

Graduate Medical Education

  • Support maintaining the current state appropriations to graduate medical education and is opposed to any changes to the funding of the existing program that would lead to any decrease or elimination of payments that support Duke’s mission to train medical residents.
  • Support measures to address the state’s current provider shortage through maintaining current medical education programs and expanding access to additional GME funds in more areas of the state.

Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program

  • Support the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP), a CMS Medicaid Directed Payment Program, to ensure the state’s most vulnerable population receives needed care without new General Fund Requirements. This program improves beneficiaries’ access to care, enhances quality care and aids safety-net hospitals.

Higher Education

  • Support the value of higher education in North Carolina by partnering with the 35 other private colleges and universities in North Carolina, as well as the 17 campuses of the UNC system on issues such as workforce development, employment, economic impact, cultural contributions, and other dimensions.

Medicaid Managed Care

  • Support a managed care program that provides patients access to high-quality care, reduces provider and patient administrative burden, and leverages all available federal funds.

Need-based Aid

  • Support legislation that maintains or increases current state appropriation levels for North Carolina’s Need-Based Scholarships for students enrolled in private or independent colleges and universities.

Research Funding

  • Support legislation that provides additional state funding for innovation, discovery, translation and commercialization of research at both public and private universities in North Carolina.
  • Support the current non-profit sales and property tax laws. Duke University and Duke Health are nonprofits that receive certain exemptions under the North Carolina Tax Code. In return for being exempt from certain taxes, non-profit hospitals have a special responsibility to deliver a variety of benefits to serve the needs of their communities. Hospitals report publicly on community benefit activities, which include financial assistance for those in need, as well as a wide range of programs and services designed to meet the current and future health needs of all those they serve. 
  • Oppose any changes to the tax code that would impact Duke University and Duke Health’s status as a nonprofit.

Telehealth

  • Support a legislative and regulatory solution, as well as reimbursement policies, that promote equal access to telehealth services for every North Carolinian in every part of the state.
  • Support protecting patients’ rights for telehealth coverage and expansion of broadband access to bring healthcare to every community.
  • Oppose legislation that restricts access to and discourages insurance coverage of telehealth services. North Carolina is one of the few states that does not currently require insurers to cover and reimburse for telehealth services consistently, and hospitals continue to advocate for policies that incentivize providers to maintain telehealth services as a means to increase access to care.

Transitions of Care/Patient Discharge Issues

  • Support legislative and regulatory changes to assist hospitals with discharging patients to a more appropriate level of care.
  • Support amendments to laws regarding guardianship and child placement issues.

Workforce Development

  • Support comprehensive solutions addressing the entire healthcare workforce pipeline, from preparing tomorrow’s healthcare leaders through world-class education programs to bolstering the resiliency of today’s healthcare workforce with the resources they need to continue providing high-quality care. 
  • Support residency placement programs and loan forgiveness incentives to encourage providers to practice in rural and underserved communities.

Workplace Violence Protections

  • Support legislation that provides additional protections from violence for healthcare workers in clinical settings.