After Republicans Raise Concern, Potential WakeMed Atrium Merger Delayed
Late Friday afternoon, news broke that Charlotte-based Atrium Health and WakeMed in Wake County were considering a merger. The details of the merger are unclear, but Wake County Commissioners were scheduled to vote this today, until Republican raised concerns.
North Carolina House Representative Mike Schietzelt from Northern Wake County raised the concern saying, “This was just announced yesterday, and the Wake County Commissioner are planning to vote on this Monday. I’ve never seen one of these hospital consolidations that ended up lowering prices and improving quality. We need to slow down until we have all the information.”
From Southern Wake County, Rep. Erin Pare said, “Most agree that when consolidation like this occurs costs tend to go up and quality tends to go down. I’m concerned about what this merger means for the state health plan and my constituents who are on it. The late announcement on Friday, coupled with a hastily scheduled consent agenda vote today by the Wake County Commissioners, raised alarm bells. The lack of transparency and process is concerning. This deal should receive appropriate scrutiny, and it seemed like there was an attempt to avoid that. I am happy to hear that there has been a 90-day delay on the vote.”
Republican State Treasurer Brad Briner, who is responsible for managing the state health plan, issued a letter saying, “This proposed move will increase already high healthcare costs with no meaningful investment in Wake County.”
Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek added, “This is a consequential decision for the future of healthcare across all of North Carolina. The announcement of the transaction was only made public on Friday afternoon. The people of Wake County and stakeholders who are affected by this move deserve to have more than a weekend to voice their opinions on a hospital takeover of this scale.”
After Republicans raised the alarm, the Wake County Commission decided to postpone the vote by 90 days. WakeMed is one of the largest hospital providers in Wake County and Atrium in Charlotte.
