Atrium Health and WakeMed Announce Planned Strategic Combination

When evaluating potential partners, WakeMed carefully considered several factors, including alignment of culture and mission, quality of care and financial stability.

Over many decades of caring for all, WakeMed and Atrium Health have established narratives that are remarkably similar – centered around an unwavering commitment to serving all patients and families. Atrium Health brings a decades-long history of financial stewardship and investment in the community it serves, with long-term financial vitality.

Atrium Health and WakeMed both have a genuine commitment to community-focused, patient-centered care ‘for all’ with a deep history of working locally to meet community health care challenges while also advancing equitable care across North Carolina.

Not at all. Our goal is to enhance access to care. We believe that, together, we can create a bolder, better and faster gateway for health across North Carolina and beyond. Specifically, we will be able to:

• Advance shared mission of caring for all by expanding access to care for one million more people by creating the state's largest virtual care network
• Transform mental health services and improve outcomes by creating the state’s largest nonprofit mental health network, with more than 360 inpatient mental health beds
• Create jobs and accelerate economic growth through one of the largest health care investments in Wake County
• Expand community partnerships to strengthen health and safety net programs and address gaps in care
• Ignite health innovation, research and education through an expanded innovation corridor and the state’s largest health care workforce training programs.

In the short term, there will be no changes for patients – you can continue to seek care at WakeMed as you always have.

Over time, upon final approval, patients will begin to see benefits to care, such as the expansion of advanced specialty and sub-specialty care (including cancer, neurosciences, pediatric specialties and more) and enhanced access driven by increased investment in facilities and infrastructure.

Patients across Wake County and beyond will also have expanded access to clinical trials through the Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials — one of the nation’s largest provider-led clinical trials networks.

This strategic combination will also benefit patients and communities across North Carolina. WakeMed and Atrium Health will work together to establish North Carolina's largest virtual care network, adding 100,000 new virtual visits year-over-year. We will also expand access to a combined nonprofit mental health network with more than 360 mental health beds.

This combination will increase access to health care for all across our community by allowing WakeMed to expand our footprint, renovate existing facilities and offer new services and advanced specialty care.

WakeMed and Atrium Health share a commitment to ensuring all members of our community have access to high quality, value-based health care.

This combination will enable WakeMed to improve access and affordability for uninsured and underinsured members of our community by enhancing our financial support and charity care practices - from 300 to 400% of the federal poverty level. These changes will lead to improved health, wellness and outcomes for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

No. Under this agreement, WakeMed will become fully integrated with Atrium Health but will remain a 501c (3) nonprofit organization with our current respective operating licenses, Medicare provider numbers, accreditations and credentialled Medical Staffs.

Integrating with Atrium Health will give WakeMed and our community access to new resources, tools and best practices. Our combination with Atrium Health will enable us to access enhanced resources and expertise to continue providing world-class health care delivered by the providers our patients know and trust.

WakeMed transitioned from being a county-owned health system to an independent, not-for-profit organization in 1997. Since that time, WakeMed has operated independently while still meeting requirements under a Transfer Agreement between the hospital and the county. Among these requirements is WakeMed’s commitment to the provision of charity care, and public reporting of the community benefit WakeMed providers. These requirements will not change.

Additionally, under the original Transfer Agreement, Wake County retained the responsibility of appointing and approving a majority of nominees to serve on the WakeMed Board of Directors. Under the proposed new agreement, that oversight will continue. The WakeMed Board of Directors will continue to provide oversight and leadership for our health system, with similar responsibilities and authority as it does today and Wake County will continue to appoint the majority of the Board members.

For now, WakeMed will continue to operate under the WakeMed name and brand. Over time the name and brand may change to reflect becoming part of the Atrium Health family of hospitals, outpatient centers and providers.

The WakeMed Foundation is an independent non-profit organization and will continue to support WakeMed, our patients and employees. Nothing will change for the donations that have been pledged to our organization. By maintaining the WakeMed Foundation, all donations made in support of the hospital will stay local and will continue to be used toward the purposes for which they were intended.

No. The health care industry is changing rapidly. Fierce competition and an ever-changing regulatory and reimbursement climate pose new and significant challenges and opportunities that we must be prepared to face. Today, less than 19% of hospitals in America – and less than 10% of hospitals in North Carolina – are independent.

WakeMed is in a strong operating and financial position – but we recognize there is much more opportunity and health care needs within our community. The WakeMed Board of Directors has recognized the benefits of joining a strong, not-for-profit health care system based here in North Carolina. By partnering with a like-minded health system that is committed to investing in and expanding our services, we will be better positioned to effectively serve our patients and families for many years to come.

We plan for this strategic combination to create more than 3,300 new health care jobs over the next five years in Wake County, spanning clinical care, research, education, biosciences and support roles. We expect this growth will lead to more career opportunities for health care professionals in the region.

Our combination will require changes to our existing transfer agreement and articles of incorporation to be approved by the Wake County Board of Commissioners, followed by all necessary regulatory review. We are working to ensure a timely process and will keep our community updated on our progress. Pending all appropriate approvals, over the next two years, we will embark on a multi-step integration process. This process will take time, and any changes that are made will have the needs of our patients, team members and community in mind. WakeMed and Atrium Health will share more details about the future plans in the coming months.

We are committed to keeping our patients, families and community informed throughout this process. Please check this page regularly for updates about our progress. If you have questions that are not answered here, we invite you to submit any questions you have to our dedicated email address AskWakeMed@wakemed.org.