Atrium Health and UNC Health Care say they have suspended plans for a merger after the two companies were unable to come to an agreement.
Atrium, formerly known as Carolinas HealthCare System, said the company’s chair Ed Brown and chief executive Eugene Woods informed UNC Health Care of its decision in a letter sent Friday.
Last month, UNC Health Care chief executive William Ropersaid control of the combined company was holding up the merger. With more than 90,000 employees, 60 hospitals and a state-owned medical school between the two companies, there was disagreement on how much control each company would have post-merger.
At the time,Roper told the Charlotte Observer UNC Health Care was “taking appropriate care and diligence” to work on the combined company’s structure. Woods, Atrium’s chief executive, was to be named CEO of the new company and Roper was expected to become chair of the new company’s board of directors. UNC Health Care hinted at the issue of company structure in why the merger talks failed, saying in a statement the two companies "have determined that we cannot satisfy our mutual organizational goals through a proposed partnership and joint operating company."
In a statement, Atrium says its “priority will always be its patients and communities.”
“We are committed to being an organization that is agile enough to respond to the quickly changing dynamics of our field, and also serve as an effective platform for growth that will attract other like-minded partners committed to the same goals to transform care together.”