Novan Health

About Us

Community Outreach Programs

Novant Health exists to improve the health of the communities we serve, and we accomplish that mission by providing excellent healthcare facilities and physician practices. Another large part of this commitment is for Novant Health to make a major commitment to community outreach and service.

Community Benefit

Novant Health exists to improve the health of the communities we serve. We accomplish that mission by providing excellent healthcare facilities and physician practices, and also by making a commitment to community outreach and service. Our community benefit each year exceeds $450 million. This total includes hundreds of programs that serve our patients, neighbors and some of our communities’ most vulnerable citizens: charity and community benefit care, which includes our financial commitment to providing unreimbursed health services to individuals with Medicaid coverage; community health education; medical services that lose money but are important for the community; support groups; partnerships with other organizations to provide outreach services; community events and screenings; our participation in medical research; academic health programs; and other community initiatives. The following are several examples of our outreach programs.

Giving Back for Our Anniversary

We asked our employees how we should celebrate Novant Health’s tenth anniversary, and they overwhelmingly recommended giving something to our communities. We partnered with Habitat for Humanity in 2008 and used the funds we would have spent on an anniversary party to purchase lumber, nails, glass, paint and all the supplies to build a new future for three deserving families. One house was constructed in the Greater Winston-Salem market, one in the coastal market near Wilmington and one in the Greater Charlotte market.

The Buddy Kemp Caring House

In Charlotte helps people cope with the life-disrupting realities of cancer. The freestanding building is dedicated to making cancer support and information easily accessible in a non-medical environment.

Parish Nursing Programs

These programs in Charlotte serve thousands of participants with health education, wellness and prevention services. The program became the first parish-nursing program in the southeastern United States.

Today's Woman Health & Wellness Center

Opened by Forsyth Medical Center in 1995, this center embodies a grassroots, holistic approach to improving the health of women and children.

Community Care Center

Forsyth Medical Center and Novant Health donated the use of a medical office building to the Forsyth-Stokes-Davie Medical Society to open the Community Care Center. The center provides care to people with no health insurance.

Community Care Cruiser

Operated by Presbyterian Hospital, this 38-foot recreational vehicle is staffed by nurses and volunteers to combat healthcare discrepancies among underserved children across the region.

Caton Merchant House

Is an assisted living facility in Northern Virginia that enables seniors to live as they wish, affording the conveniences of home with a level of care and assistance that is suited to seniors' needs. Caton Merchant House is one of only a few assisted living facilities in the region accredited by The Joint Commission.

More at Four

Thomasville Medical Center cooperates with the Davidson County Smart Start program to provide More at Four, offering assistance to children four years old that helps them prepare for kindergarten.

Novant Medical Group

Novant Medical Group comprises more than 350 clinic locations with 1,100 physicians throughout North and South Carolina and Virginia. Physicians and clinics provide primary, specialty and urgent medical care in local neighborhoods, communities and hospitals. Collectively, they also work together to improve the practice of medicine. For instance, they are implementing an electronic medical record system in all locations, which will provide remarkable improvements in how physicians, staff and patients interact.

Charity and Free Care

Novant Health provides charity and free care, which includes the provision of services to patients with no insurance coverage and the cost of providing open community access to our health services. Because of our not-for-profit mission, Novant Health neonatal intensive care units, critical care units, cancer treatment centers, emergency rooms and other essential medical programs treat everyone, regardless of the person’s ability to pay. We work with individuals to help qualify them for public assistance, establish a reasonable payment plan, discount their bill to reflect their personal resources or provide them with charity care. We’re proud to offer the following financial assistance programs:

  • Our charity care program provides uninsured patients and families with a 100 percent write-off of their hospital bill if their annual income falls within 300 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines.
  • The charity care program described above covers about 90 percent of all uninsured patients. For the other 10 percent who do not qualify because their incomes are above the guidelines, we offer a discount on their bill.
  • The health system also offers a catastrophic benefit for patients who have an account balance of $5,000 or more, even if they have health insurance. With this program, a Novant financial counselor evaluates patients’ individual situations to determine if they qualify for a discount on the remaining balance or a full write-off.
  • We also offer flexible payment plans for patients. Novant financial counselors have the flexibility to establish a routine payment schedule for patients, with terms extending up to five years. Our counselors take many factors into consideration when setting up a patient’s payment plan, such as the amount of the balance and a person’s overall financial status.

The NC Justice Center published a report entitled “How Charitable Are North Carolina Hospitals?” In that February 2010 document, the Justice Center stated that Novant Health has the most sound and clear charity care policy of any hospital system in North Carolina, a policy that recognizes the realities of modern family finances. The Justice Center report also recognized Novant and several other healthcare organizations for their openness and accountability in making our charity and financial assistance programs publicly available online


www.WashingHandsSavesLives.org – Novant created this website where any hospital in the nation can access our hand hygiene campaign materials and use them free of charge. Novant hospitals have significantly reduced MRSA infections from 2002-2010, due in part to hard-hitting hand hygiene education and internal staff monitoring. Our efforts were awarded the prestigious Earnest A. Codman award for patient quality and safety from The Joint Commission. Thousands of healthcare organizations throughout the United States and from more than 80 countries have accessed materials from the website.


www.noflu.com – We provide a community resource to help fight influenza. The website offers tips on how to prevent flu, how to tell the difference between a cold and flu, and how to best prepare your family for pandemic flu.