WakeMed Health and Hospitals executives presented their strategic combination with Atrium Health to the Wake County Board of Commissioners on Monday afternoon.
What You Need To Know
Atrium Health has proposed combining with WakeMed Health and Hospitals
The Wake County Board of Commissioners last month delayed a vote on approving the deal
Healthcare executives on Monday presented more information on the proposal to the county board
Since news broke of a potential combination of Atrium Health and WakeMed, several questions have been asked by the community and leaders. The state treasurer, the state auditor and the Wake County Board of Commissioners pressed for further scrutiny of the move.
More than 60 pages of documents were presented to the board by executives at WakeMed and Atrium Health. Under this proposal, WakeMed would fall under the control of Atrium Health.
WakeMed CEO Donald Gintzig has repeatedly said this proposed consolidation is an effort to get ahead of future costs.
Atrium Health would make a $2 billion investment in WakeMed and add 3,300 jobs, but questions over market competition with other hospital networks in the Triangle and potential increases in insurance premiums swirl around the overall discussion.
The combination of WakeMed and Atrium Health intends to address multiple issues:
increased access to services
expanded geographic footprint
enhanced virtual care network
overhauled facilities and technologies
Presentation slides showed talks between two of the state’s health providers dating back to 2022. During the presentation, representatives from Wake Forest Baptist addressed the benefits of joining Atrium Health in 2020, including 8,200 jobs and a raise in the minimum starting wage to $18.85 an hour.
Eugene Woods is the CEO of Advocate Health, which owns Atrium Health. Woods said this combined effort will benefit behavioral health in the Triangle because it is already working in Mecklenburg County.
“We’re one of the largest providers of behavioral health in North Carolina. The challenge is a lot of the providers, because of the economics, have walked away. We’ve leaned in, and in fact, we are for four decades Mecklenburg County’s safety net provider when it comes to behavioral health,” Woods said.
The county board decided to delay a vote on the proposal for 90 days in May. The county would have to sign off on the change before it gets regulatory scrutiny.
Monday’s briefing came after WakeMed leaders held multiple meetings with community stakeholders.
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