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Health Care

Rural practice still not drawing NC med-school grads

North Carolina’s would-be physicians have been shying away from setting up primary care practices in the rural parts of the state for years, and the situation is not getting better. Only eight of the 463 people who graduated from a public or private medical school here in 2015 were practicing...

By Ray Gronberg

September 22, 2026

CON needs to go, State Health Plan trustee says

The No. 2 man on the State Health Plan trustees told a Congressional subcommittee he favors doing away with North Carolina’s certificate-of-need laws to foster more competition in the healthcare sector. “There’s no reason for you to have to seek state permission to build a healthcare facility,” says Dr. Brian...

By Ray Gronberg

September 22, 2026

State Health Plan adds rural Atrium hospitals to mid-price tier

State Health Plan officials have added a dozen Atrium Health hospitals and clinics to the plan’s middle-cost tier, but Atrium’s big hospitals in Charlotte and Winston-Salem aren’t among them. The decision follows weeks of talks between the two sides and means that teachers and other state employees in the Charlotte...

By Ray Gronberg

September 22, 2026

Lawsuit targets nursing “collaborative practice” payments

North Carolina’s system of requiring some advanced-practice nurses to pay physicians for the right to ply their trade is the target of a lawsuit filed by the owner of a Fuquay-Varina menopause-treatment clinic. Jamie Gallagher and her lawyers say she pays $16,500 to a doctor for the “collaborative practice agreement”...

By Ray Gronberg

September 21, 2026

ECU Health cleared to borrow $700M

Local Government Commission members have given ECU Health permission to borrow up to $700 million to refinance existing debts and add to its facilities. ECU Health intends to use $200 million from the impending bond sales to, among other things, “expand and equip” the fifth and sixth floors of its...

By Ray Gronberg

September 21, 2026

Two WakeMed execs departing

WakeMed is losing two of its key executives even as the debate about its planned merger with Atrium Health continues. Thomas Gough, WakeMed’s COO, is leaving for a similar post with Florida-based Baptist Health. He starts there on Sept. 14. Dr. Seth Brody, previously WakeMed’s chief physician executive, is now...

By Ray Gronberg

September 21, 2026

Atrium sounds off on State Health Plan strategy

Atrium Health is finally speaking out about its exclusion from the State Health Plan’s preferred-provider list — and it’s not happy. The decision “could leave more than 130,000 North Carolina state employees facing substantially higher costs if they wish to continue receiving care from the physicians, hospitals and care teams...

By Ray Gronberg

July 20, 2026

Blue Cross taps partners for state PBM deal

UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx and Puerto Rico-based Abarca Health are the key players in the nine-company consortium Blue Cross put together to become the State Health Plan’s pharmacy benefits manager. Abarca will handle claims processing and administration for the group, while Optum will manage drugmaker rebates and drugstore-network pricing, Blue Cross...

By Ray Gronberg

July 20, 2026

Court of Appeals overturns medical non-competes

A divided, all-Republican state Court of Appeals panel has voided one-year non-compete clauses it says could have kept two nurse practitioners on the sidelines of the medical profession. The offending contracts with UNC Health-affiliated Southeast Regional Physician Services would’ve forced both to “stop any work remotely related to the practice of...

By Ray Gronberg

July 20, 2026

State Health Plan picks Duke Health for Triangle care slot

State Health Plan managers have picked Duke Health to serve as the plan’s middle-tier, “access” provider in the Triangle. The decision means members who are Duke Health patients will face about the same co-pays in 2027 that they do now. It also means that WakeMed — currently seeking to merge...

By Ray Gronberg

July 20, 2026

WakeMed: Future borrowing capacity too low

WakeMed has told Wake County commissioners it can likely borrow only another $300 million to $400 million in the short term without affecting its Wall Street-assigned bond ratings. So without its planned merger with Charlotte-based Atrium Health, WakeMed says, “it would take 10 years” to raise the capital it needs...

By Ray Gronberg

July 15, 2026

Blue Cross regains State Health Plan contract

Three years after losing it, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has won back the State Health Plan’s business, and then some. Plan trustees on Friday voted to hire Blue Cross to serve as its third-party claims processor, a job the Durham-based insurer had performed until it fell...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

UNC Health, Novant make state’s “preferred provider” list

State Health Plan managers say making UNC Health and Novant two of the plan’s three preferred care providers will have its greatest fallout in the Charlotte area, given that Atrium Health is winding up on the “non-preferred” list. The decision means plan members will face less in co-pays if they...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

Health researchers criticize WakeMed/Atrium deal

Brown University analysts have joined State Treasurer Brad Briner and the rest of the chorus that contends the proposed WakeMed/Atrium Health merger will only wind up increasing healthcare costs. This is because mergers like this one give hospitals more leverage to use against insurers, says Dan Arnold and other researchers...

By Ray Gronberg

July 8, 2026

Group urges Wake commish to put strings on WakeMed/Atrium deal

A Washington-based advocacy group is urging Wake County Commissioners to asked more questions and attach some strings to the proposed WakeMed-Atrium Health merger. The strings should include written commitments that WakeMed will preserve essential services, expand mental-health programs, and maintain its charity care community benefit standards, says the group United...

By Ray Gronberg

June 29, 2026

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