The Wake County Board of Commissioners plans to vote Monday to alter WakeMed's articles of incorporation and a land deal between the county and hospital system to pave the way for a merger with Charlotte-based Atrium Health.
Under the agreement, Atrium will commit to a $2 billion capital investment over the next decade to boost WakeMed's "strategic initiatives."
The WakeMed Board of Directors approved the merger at its April meeting, according to briefing materials prepared for the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Under the agreement, the hospital would remain a nonprofit with Atrium as its sole member.
"We are excited to announce this transformational step forward for WakeMed, which supports our ability to deliver on our mission and improve the health and well-being of our community — and beyond — for generations to come," Kristin Kelly, a WakeMed spokeswoman, wrote in a press release.
Officials from WakeMed and Atrium parent company Advocate Health plan to hold a press briefing Tuesday to discuss the merger in greater detail.
N.C. State Treasurer Brad Briner, a Republican, expressed alarm about the potential merger on Friday.
"There is a simple business principle that when suppliers consolidate and competition is reduced it is the consumers who suffer. This has been proven to be true time and again in the health care landscape, where prices continue to rise and patients are left with mounting medical debt," Briner wrote in a statement.
The treasurer oversees the N.C. State Health Plan, which provides health insurance to about 750,000 North Carolinians.
WakeMed operates three community hospitals in Wake County that have nearly a thousand patient beds. Those include the health system's flagship facility on New Bern Avenue, a 208-bed Cary hospital and a 77-bed facility on Falls of Neuse Road.
The system also owns a rehabilitation facility and a mental health hospital, in addition to a number of outpatient facilities.
