WakeMed schedules public forums on Atrium Health deal ahead of vote

WakeMed is moving its proposed combination with Atrium Health into public forums after Wake County commissioners delayed a planned vote on May 4 to give the hospitals time to meet with residents. The forums are designed to explain the plan and give people a place to raise questions before county leaders act on a deal that could reshape care across Raleigh, Cary and North Raleigh.

That reach is why the proposal has become one of the county’s most closely watched health care decisions. WakeMed, which has served the Raleigh area since 1961, is described as the third-largest health care provider in the Triangle. Families across Wake County rely on its emergency rooms, specialty care and hospital services, making the question of who controls the system more than a corporate matter.

WakeMed and Atrium say the combination would bring a $2 billion investment to Wake County, create more than 3,300 new health care jobs and expand services for 1 million people across North Carolina. The companies also say the transaction would help build the state’s largest nonprofit behavioral health network, a sign that the deal is being pitched not only as a merger, but as a major expansion of health care capacity.

The proposal would keep WakeMed as the same legal entity, without dissolving or reincorporating it. Under the structure now being discussed, Wake County commissioners would retain the power to appoint eight of WakeMed’s 14 board members, while Atrium would appoint the other six. WakeMed says existing leadership is expected to remain in place after the closing, a point likely to matter to residents weighing whether the deal preserves enough local decision-making power.

Atrium Health, part of Advocate Health, says it is connected to more than 900 locations in North and South Carolina and operates within the nation’s third-largest nonprofit academic health system. Supporters argue that scale could bring more investment and faster growth, while critics have raised concerns about the speed of the process, pricing, local control and whether public scrutiny has been strong enough before a vote.

State Treasurer Brad Briner has already urged review by the North Carolina attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission, saying he wanted regulators to examine what the proposal could mean for North Carolinians and for the State Health Plan, which covers about 750,000 members. Wake County Chair Don Mial said the delay was meant to make the process more transparent and to let public comments and concerns shape the next steps, putting the future of one of Wake County’s most important health systems squarely in public view.