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In 2017, Michael Jordan gave $7 million to open two Charlotte health clinics; by 2023, they were providing more than 9,000 patient visits a year
In 2017, Michael Jordan gave $7 million to open two Charlotte health clinics. Novant Health says they provided more than 9,000 patient visits in 2023.
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Many of us have probably skipped a doctor visit because it cost too much or took too long to arrange. In Charlotte, North Carolina, regular care was a real challenge for many people. In October 2017, Novant Health announced a $7 million gift from basketball star Michael Jordan to open two health clinics for families in the city. The clinics were intended to serve some of the city’s most at-risk communities. Later, Novant Health reported that the two clinics had given patients more than 9,000 visits in 2023 alone.
Why Charlotte needed these clinics
The gift targeted an obvious weakness. Census data cited in the 2017 press release showed that more than 100,000 residents of Charlotte were not insured. Families in underserved communities also often had difficulty getting checkups, routine care, and mental health support, the release added. The new clinics were supposed to be created in the neighborhoods that had been identified as the most vulnerable to generational poverty by a local task force.
Jordan stated that he hoped the clinics would help children and their families have a healthier future. Carl Armato, Novant Health’s president and CEO at the time, said the gift would remove barriers to quality care in some of the most vulnerable communities.
What the clinics were built to offer
The plan was to build a medical home rather than a place for quick visits. Under the plan, the clinics would provide regular and preventive care. The idea was that a family would be able to handle most of their needs in one place. They would also provide mental health services, physical therapy, social work, dentistry, and family planning.
The announcement also shared some projections. In five years, the clinics were expected to treat almost 35,000 children and adults. They were meant to reach people who either lacked access to regular care or used the emergency room for non-urgent needs. Novant Health said the clinics had the potential to cut emergency room use by 68 percent and hospitalizations by 37 percent for residents of those neighborhoods. Those numbers are projections as of 2017. These were not measured results.
What the numbers showed by 2023
Years later, Novant Health gave an update. In a May 2024 release, Ann Caulkins, president of the Novant Health foundations, said the Charlotte clinics provided more than 9,000 visits to patients in 2023. That number came from the company itself. The release did not explain how the visits were counted or what happened to the patients afterward.
Many Charlotte patients, it noted, had never had a regular doctor before they walked in. Patients also praised the care teams for helping them regain their health and feel hopeful, according to the release. Those are the company’s own reports, so they show how Novant Health describes patient experiences, not an independent assessment. They do not show a change in the entire city. But the more than 9,000 visits in one year showed that people were using the clinics.
A third clinic in Jordan’s hometown
The Charlotte model didn’t end there. Novant Health and Jordan teamed up again to open a third clinic overall, this time in his hometown of Wilmington. A $10 million gift from Jordan to the Novant Health foundations made it possible to add two clinics there. The first clinic was located on Greenfield Street, with 12 patient rooms and a community health worker to help patients connect with local resources. Work was under way at the second Wilmington clinic site.
The release also referenced a 10-year U.S. study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The study found that communities with more primary care doctors had longer lives and lower death rates from heart disease, cancer, and respiratory disease. That's a link, not evidence that any one clinic changes life spans. But the clinics in Charlotte show how a donation can open the door to everyday care for people who had little access to it.
