{"id":2309,"date":"2026-06-12T22:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:34:21","slug":"wakemed-says-it-couldnt-consider-a-unc-health-merger-if-it-wanted-to-why-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2309","title":{"rendered":"WakeMed says it couldn\u2019t consider a UNC Health merger if it wanted to. Why not"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

When WakeMed officials turned down an offer to join the UNC Health system rather than Charlotte-based Atrium Health<\/a>, they said they had carefully reviewed UNC\u2019s proposal and explained why they think Atrium is a better fit.<\/p>\n

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But this week, they also disclosed that WakeMed has an agreement with Atrium that prevents it from seriously considering any other offers. UNC Health made its proposal<\/a> in a seven-page letter to Thad McDonald, head of WakeMed\u2019s board of directors, on May 5, four days after WakeMed announced its plans to join Atrium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respectfully thanked them and let them know we had a signed agreement,\u201d McDonald told Wake County commissioners on Monday. \u201cWe had worked on this agreement for more than three years, and the terms of which prevented us from having conversations with anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNC interpreted McDonald\u2019s response differently. In an email Thursday, UNC spokesman Phil Bridges noted that while McDonald\u2019s response said WakeMed had an agreement with Atrium, he did not explicitly say it prevented the health system from talking to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the contrary, it states that they will continue to review our proposal as they remain engaged with the community around WakeMed\u2019s path forward,\u201d Bridges wrote.<\/p>\n

UNC Health hasn\u2019t given up, according to Bridges. The state-owned health system remains interested in discussing its proposal with the WakeMed board and Wake County commissioners and \u201csharing more about why UNC Health\u2019s proposal better serves the people of Wake County and North Carolina, as well as how we believe that we are better aligned with our respective missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a meeting Monday, Wake commissioners were keen to learn more about UNC\u2019s offer<\/a>, which on the surface seemed more generous than Atrium\u2019s. UNC officials said they would invest a minimum of $5 billion \u201cin and around Wake County over the next approximately 10 years,\u201d with about half of that \u201ctied directly to WakeMed priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

By contrast, Atrium has pledged to invest $2 billion in WakeMed, money that would allow it to expand and update its main campus in Raleigh and expand its hospitals in Cary and North Raleigh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McDonald said UNC\u2019s offer lacked details on where the money would be spent, particularly when it comes to WakeMed\u2019s flagship campus in Southeast Raleigh, which needs updating.<\/p>\n

In addition, said WakeMed president and CEO Donald Gintzig, UNC will likely spend $5 billion on new hospitals and other facilities in the Triangle regardless of whether it ties up with WakeMed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me they\u2019re going to invest $5 billion anyway,\u201d Gintzig told Wake commissioners. \u201cSo here\u2019s your chance to get $5 billion and $2 billion on top of that in this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Chapel Hill-based UNC Health<\/a> has two hospitals in Wake County, Rex in Raleigh and Rex Holly Springs, and has asked state regulators for permission to build a third in Wake Forest<\/a>. It is also building a hospital in southern Durham County, just outside Research Triangle Park, near Morrisville and Cary.<\/p>\n

UNC Health proposed folding WakeMed into the UNC system while preserving its role as \u201cWake County\u2019s anchor health system.\u201d It said UNC Health\u2019s operations in Wake and Johnston counties would \u201cbe aligned under the leadership of WakeMed\u201d and that WakeMed would have members on the UNC board.<\/p>\n

UNC also said that as a state agency it is exempt from some of the regulatory hurdles that a WakeMed\/Atrium merger must go through. It emphasized that UNC offers an \u201cin-state, publicly governed, Triangle-based partnership,\u201d attempting to contrast itself with Atrium, which is part of a larger nonprofit company, Advocate Health<\/a>, that operates in six states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe our organizations share a fundamental mission to serve the people of Wake County and North Carolina with high-quality, accessible, and sustainable care,\u201d the UNC proposal said.<\/p>\n

Critics of the WakeMed\/Atrium deal, including State Treasurer Brad Briner<\/a>, say it would reduce competition in ways that increase costs for patients and reduce quality.<\/p>\n

WakeMed officials counter that joining Atrium means Wake County would still be served by three health systems, including UNC and Durham-based Duke Health.<\/a> They say a combined WakeMed\/UNC, on the other hand, would control 80% of the healthcare market in the county, reducing competition in ways the Atrium merger would not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really feel strongly that a three-system competitive market will give people greater health care choices and further establish us as the state\u2019s premier healthcare region,\u201d McDonald told Wake County commissioners.<\/p>\n

WakeMed needs county commissioners to approve changes to the documents<\/a> that allowed the county-owned Wake Medical Center to become a private nonprofit in 1997. Those changes were before the board on May 4, but it opted to delay a decision for 90 days to give WakeMed more time to answer questions.<\/p>\n

If commissioners approve the changes, the Federal Trade Commission, along with the N.C. attorney general\u2019s office, must agree the merger doesn\u2019t violate state and federal antitrust laws that protect consumers from unfair business practices.<\/p>\n

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UNC made a $5 billion counterproposal to WakeMed\u2019s plans to join Atrium Health of Charlotte. WakeMed says agreement forbids it from considering other offers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nWakeMed says it couldn\u2019t consider a UNC Health merger if it wanted to. 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