By admin 
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Several organizations have sent a letter to North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, asking him to thoroughly review the planned merger between WakeMed and Atrium Health, including potential price increases.
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“The most important thing here is to actually hear from the public,” said Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina.
SEANC and several other organizations, including the Patients Union, NC Justice Center and Raleigh-Apex NAACP, all signed onto the letter asking for public hearings on the deal.
“Our members deserve transparency, our families deserve affordable healthcare and North Carolinians deserve a thorough review before decisions are made that can affect their healthcare for generations to come,” said Wendell Powell, SEANC’s president.
The letter also calls for more transparency surrounding certain aspects of the strategic combination, including details about Atrium’s investment in WakeMed and how WakeMed selected Atrium for the partnership.
“We are calling on him to bring the full weight of that authority to bear. Investigate the deal, assess its likely affects on prices and competition and access to care and determine what protections the law allows,” said Jamila Headley, the executive director of the Patients Union.
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This comes weeks after the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 to approve amendments to WakeMed’s articles of incorporation and transfer agreement, setting the stage for the merger to move forward.
That decision was made after North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein announced several changes to Atrium’s proposed deal, including fully funding a $2 billion investment in WakeMed and capping price increases for five years.
“Those were important changes and they happened because patients, workers and community members refused to stop asking questions, but the terms kept shifting late in the process,” said Headley.
WakeMed says the strategic combination will allow both organizations to further elevate the quality of healthcare in the region and lead to more research and innovation.
The deal still has to go through the regulatory process. WakeMed anticipates that will take several months.
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