Wake Co. commissioners set to discuss WakeMed-Atrium deal on Monday

The Wake County Board of Commissioners on Monday will discuss the proposed partnership between WakeMed and Atrium Health. 

The board is expected to grill WakeMed executives on details of the merger and what role the county would play in it. County commissioners appoint directors to WakeMed's board, and the commissioners invited WakeMed’s leadership team to brief the board on the proposed transaction and to answer the commissioners’ questions about the deal.

The potential merger has faced scrutiny since it was first announced.  County commissioners were poised to vote on a measure early last month that would have paved the way for the transaction to proceed, but the vote was postponed after State Treasurer Brad Briner and other state officials raised questions about the deal.  

If it passes with what was orginally proposed, Atrium would become the sole corporate member of the nonprofit that owns WakeMed “to ensure unified governance, consistent oversight, and alignment with system objectives,” according to a summary of the deal provided to county commissioners. WakeMed would continue as the same legal entity without dissolving or reincorporating.

Thomas Friedman, the State Health Plan’s executive administrator, said Friday that Atrium is currently charging the plan anywhere from 15% to 40% more than WakeMed for the same services. If WakeMed combines with Atrium and then raises its rates to similar levels, he said, the state plan could have to raise premiums for every person on the State Health Plan to cover the increased cost of care, assuming the additional hundreds of millions of dollars can’t be covered by the state. 

"If we moved our current book of busines, same people using the same thing and paying that much more money, we would need to either get from taxpayers or members an amount of money that would have cost somewhere between $7 and $11 a month," Friedman said.

State leaders believe that the plan could reaise health insurance premiums by more than $100 per year if the merger goes through, on top of cost challenges Briner says members are already feeling.

"We want to figure out a way to help or teachers, and our law enforcement officers, get better access and get a better price," Briner said.

Meanwhile, WakeMed has defended the potential merger, saying it would “help hold down costs in a variety of ways.” and will help with reducing costs for supplies, medicines and equipment while preserving consumer choice.

The hospital system blames insurance providers for increased healthcare costs, calling out the State Health Plan for increasing premiums to cover a deficit of more than $1 billion.

In a statement, a WakeMed spokesperson said, “Consumers experience health care costs primarily through insurance, not health care delivery. WakeMed reimbursement has generally not kept pace with rising healthcare costs of delivering care, while premiums continue increasing."

Under the proposed deal, Atrium is promising $2 billion investment in the area and the creation of more than 3,000 new jobs. But Briner says higher costs for he foresees from WakeMed by far outshadows that promise.

"The whole point is to raise prices so that they can spend it on facilities, and you can be the judge on whether that's worth it," 

In the meantime, as the deal continues to be scrutinized, WakeMed is moving ahead with expansion plans in the county. 

In October, WakeMed received approval to build a health complex in northeastern Wake County. The 32,000-square-foot Rolesville development is expected to be WakeMed’s sixth healthplex and tenth full-service emergency department. WakeMed paid $6.2 million for 31 acres at the intersection of Burlington Mills Road and Walls Cove Lane in Rolesville, according to a deed filed last week in Wake County. The facility is expected to open next year. 

In November, WakeMed broke ground on a 150-bed mental health hospital connected to a 45-bed acute care hospital in Garner. Construction is expected to wrap up in 2028.

Wake County commissioners would still have the power to appoint eight of the WakeMed board’s 14 members. Atrium would be allowed to appoint the remaining six members.