Atrium Health plans to take
\ncontrol of WakeMed in a deal that could bring at least $2 billion in new
\ninvestment to Wake County, documents filed with Wake County indicate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
County commissioners are
\nexpected to vote on a measure Monday that would help pave the way for the transaction.
\nCharlotte-based Atrium is one of the nation\u2019s biggest nonprofit healthcare
\ncompanies. An official announcement is expected on Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to announce
\nthis transformational step forward for WakeMed, which supports our ability to
\ndeliver on our mission and improve the health and well-being of our community \u2013
\nand beyond \u2013 for generations to come,\u201d WakeMed said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Atrium
\ndidn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WakeMed\u2019s board unanimously
\napproved the transaction this month, allowing WakeMed to become affiliated with
\nAdvocate Health, a unit of Atrium, county records show. Under the agreement,
\nAtrium would take over governance of WakeMed, becoming the controlling interest
\nin the nonprofit that operates WakeMed. WakeMed would continue as the same
\nlegal entity without dissolving or reincorporating, records show. Atrium, in
\nturn, has pledged to make a $2 billion capital commitment to further WakeMed\u2019s
\nstrategic initiatives.<\/p>\n
The Wake County Board of
\nCommissioners plans to vote Monday to amend the articles of incorporation for
\nWakeMed \u2014 which is likely needed for a transaction with Atrium. State law
\nrequires the county board, in conjunction with WakeMed\u2019s board, to approve any
\namendments to WakeMed articles of incorporation. The Wake County Board of
\nCommissioners has a role in the appointment of members to WakeMed\u2019s board of
\ndirectors and an interest in some of the company\u2019s real estate, according to
\ncounty documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any transaction would likely
\nrequire further regulatory review, State Treasurer Brad Briner indicated
\nFriday. He said in a statement that he expected the attorney general and the
\nFederal Trade Commission to examine what the proposal could mean for North Carolinians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a simple business
\nprinciple that when suppliers consolidate and competition is reduced it is the
\nconsumers who suffer,\u201d Briner said in a statement. \u201cThis has been proven to be
\ntrue time and again in the health care landscape, where prices continue to rise
\nand patients are left with mounting medical debt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Briner added: \u201cIf history is
\nany guide, this merger will not benefit the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a developing story. Check back for details.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atrium Health plans to take control of WakeMed in a deal that could bring at least $2 billion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[28,97,252,253,9447,146710],"class_list":["post-617989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-business","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-wakemed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}