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Health Care

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

Senators worry about AI-driven hospital billing

Senators have rewritten a House bill to ban insurance companies from using AI as “the sole basis” for denying the pre-approval of healthcare claims. The revised House Bill 565 also includes a section that forbids hospital and AI developers from using the technology to “upcode” billings for care. By that,...

By Ray Gronberg

June 29, 2026

UNC Health requests target Wilmington, Asheville

UNC Health officials say they’ve applied to state Department of Health and Human Services for certificates of need that would allow them to build new hospitals in Wilmington and Asheville. The Wilmington application proposes a 150-bed hospital on 62 acres at the corner of South 17th Street and Shipyard Boulevard....

By Ray Gronberg

June 22, 2026

Burgin healthcare bill mired in Senate

Sen. Jim Burgin’s healthcare reform bill cleared another hurdle on Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether it’ll eventually got to the Senate floor for a vote by the chamber’s 50 members. Senate Bill 978 got a favorable vote Tuesday morning from the Senate Judiciary committee. Its next stop is the Appropriations/Base...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

CON battles in Winston-Salem and Wilmington

North Carolina hospital chains Atrium Health and Cone Health say they’ve filed certificate-of-need applications with the state for major projects would expand their geographic scope. Cone proposes to open a $330 million, 56-bed hospital in southeast Forsyth County, entering a Winston-Salem market now dominated by Atrium and Novant County. Its...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Social-media regs wait in the wings

Legislators are close to getting a bill to regulate teens’ access to “addictive social media platforms” and applications across the finish line. The Senate on June 10 passed and returned to the House the latest version of House Bill 301. It restricts the ability of children under the age of...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

WakeMed, Atrium address county leaders’ questions

Atrium Health and WakeMed officials discussed their proposed combination with Wake County Commissioners Monday after producing a 61-page document providing more explanation of the deal. The two hospital systems held a secret meeting with the commission in mid-March, but didn’t disclose their plans until Friday, May 4, when it was...

By Ray Gronberg

June 9, 2026

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