Duke Regional Hospital plans $102.4M expansion: 4 things to know

Alia Paavola -

Durham, N.C.-based Duke Regional Hospital unveiled plans Wednesday for a $102.4 million expansion project that calls for a bigger emergency department and additional capacity for behavioral health, reports the Herald-Sun.

 Here are four things to know.

1. The project at Duke Regional, part of the Duke University Health System, would add 13 treatment rooms and six observation rooms to the ED to increase capacity.

2. The current ED, which has 36 beds and six observation rooms, was constructed to handle approximately 35,000 visits annually and is seeing closer to 64,000 patients per year.

3. Duke University Health System officials also want to consolidate behavioral health services to Duke Regional. This means moving 19 beds for psychiatric patients from Duke University Hospital, which is also in Durham, to Duke Regional. In addition, Duke Regional's behavioral health program will get a new facility that houses an 18-bed ED, space for 30 outpatient clinic rooms and 42 beds for inpatient needs. The 42-bed count includes the 19 transferred from Duke University Hospital.

4. The project will take three years to complete. The health system must receive approval from North Carolina regulators to transfer the 19 psychiatric beds.

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