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Wake County commissioners heard criticism, praise and everything in between during a public hearing Monday on the proposed merger of WakeMed with Atrium Health.
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While the hearing was not the first time the public has offered opinions in a formal setting, it was the first time the commissioners held their own public comment session. Around 100 signed up to speak.
The commissioners will vote at some point on changing WakeMed’s governance structure to allow the proposed merger to move forward in the regulatory process.
That could be at the Board of Commissioners’ next meeting on Sept. 8. However, the agenda for that meeting has not yet been finalized, county spokesperson Dara Demi said.
The deal would come with a $2 billion investment from Atrium in Wake County healthcare facilities and create 3,300 healthcare jobs over the next five years, WakeMed officials have said.
Even if commissioners approve the changes, the Federal Trade Commission and N.C. Attorney General’s Office must agree it won’t violate state and federal antitrust laws, The News & Observer previously reported.
Many of those who spoke Monday opposed the deal, highlighting continued concerns around the changes to the WakeMed governance structure, potential patient cost increases and a lack of transparency.
WakeMed CEO Donald Gintzig has described the merger as a “marriage.”
Rob Stephens, organizing director of health care advocacy group The Patients Union, pushed back against that.
“It’s a marriage circa 1700,” he said. “It’s a marriage where one party owns the other.”
That’s because the proposed governance structure would significantly alter how members of WakeMed’s board of directors are appointed.
Under the deal, the Wake County Board of Commissioners would continue to approve the appointments of eight out of 14 board members, with Atrium appointing six.
But Wake County’s appointments would be picked from a slate of nominees pre-approved by two-thirds of WakeMed’s board, meaning that Atrium’s board members would get a say, according to a county presentation.
Stephens and others opponents rallied outside the Wake County Justice Center before the meeting on Monday.
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Wayne Wilhelm, the vice president of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP, criticized a lack of transparency on the specifics of the deal.
“We keep hearing about $2 billion in investment and thousands of jobs, but the question is not what Atrium says in public, the question is what is binding in the agreement,” Wilhelm said. “What services are guaranteed? What staffing levels are guaranteed? What price protections are guaranteed?”
Some commissioners have been allowed to review the documents that are a part of the deal, but it’s not been made public.
“I know that there’s been a lot of concern about some of these documents and why we can’t discuss them and why they are secret,” said Tiffany Campbell, a county attorney.
Campbell told the commissioners in a presentation that state law prevents commissioners from releasing competitive information shared with them, which has prevented them from detailing the exact agreement.
Numerous Atrium employees, former local government leaders and WakeMed nonprofit partners spoke in favor of the merger.
Amy Smith, director of The Women’s Center, which operates a shelter for women, said it offers the county’s only “recuperative respite” program for women experiencing homelessness and who have a post-hospital medical need. WakeMed has helped support and expand the program, she said.
She said she’s backing the deal because of WakeMed’s track record.
Former Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said she trusts WakeMed’s Board of Directors to pursue the merger in part “to ensure that WakeMed continues to grow.”
WakeMed’s leaders have said the merger would give them access to build new facilities and renovate aging ones on their main campus, The N&O previously reported.
Former Cornelius Mayor Woody Washam — in office from 2017 to 2025 — also spoke in favor of the merger Monday, saying when Atrium opened a new hospital there in 2025, it had a positive impact on his community.
He said Atrium continued engaging with his community even after the hospital was opened.
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“They became a true community partner,” he said.
This story was originally published August 17, 2026 at 6:17 PM.