Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

Duke University Health System has completed a state application to move fourteen hospital beds away from its Durham facility and establish a $14.6 million open-heart surgery center in Lumberton's Southeastern Medical Center. Robeson County has one of the state's highest rates of heart disease, and Duke already receives over 500 referrals of heart patients per year from the Lumberton area. Hospital executives at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayettville and FirstHealth Moore Regional are opposed to the new surgery center and have started a letter- writing campaign. They argue that their facilities are close enough to handle the Lumberton area's open-heart surgery patients. They are concerned about the high cost of unneeded duplication of services.