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Health Care

Senate sends Burgin health bill to the House

Sen. Jim Burgin’s bill proposing a cap on health-insurance coverage mandates cleared the Senate on an almost party line, 30-15 vote Wednesday afternoon. The vote on Senate Bill 24 came after Republicans rejected a Democratic request for a comprehensive examination of the cost issues, to include a look at medical...

By Ray Gronberg

February 13, 2025

Hospital growth and healthcare needs

Two House members with considerable experience in the healthcare industry don’t find anything too surprising about the big jump in projected acute-care bed needs in the 2025 State Medical Facilities Plan. “I would guess that a lot of that is driven by population growth in North Carolina” and the aging...

By Ray Gronberg

February 13, 2025

Novo Nordisk facing shareholder lawsuit

Novo Nordisk finds itself the target of at least one shareholder lawsuit over disappointing clinical-trial results for a new weight-loss drug. The trial of CagriSema “achieved a superior weight loss of 22.7% after 68 weeks” compared to a couple of alternatives, the company said in a Dec. 20 news release....

By Ray Gronberg

February 11, 2025

Hospital needs

Here at the Trib and Business North Carolina, we’ve been puzzling over the 2025 State Medical Facilities Plan and its 156% increase in the number of acute-care hospital bed it says North Carolina needs. Suffice to say that’s a huge one-year jump, to 1,042 additional beds, 635 more than in...

By Ray Gronberg

February 10, 2025

Tiered rates ahead for State Health Plan members?

State Treasurer Brad Briner and his aides are going to ask trustees of the State Health Plan today for permission to tie the plan’s insurance premiums to a member’s salary. The move is part of their nascent strategy for addressing the funding shortfalls that loom ahead for the plan, which...

By Ray Gronberg

February 7, 2025

Burgin health-insurance mandate cap advances

Sen. Jim Burgin’s attempt to cap the number of health-insurance mandates embedded in state law cleared its first two committee hurdles this week and remains on track to get to the Senate floor. Senate Bill 24 cleared the chamber’s Health Care and Pensions committees on Wednesday and now needs only...

By Ray Gronberg

February 7, 2025

Duke and UNC partner up

A new, state-funded children’s hospital in the Triangle is going to become a joint venture between UNC Health and Duke Health. Gov. Josh Stein, Senate leader Phil Berger and other officials rolled out the initiative on Tuesday, along with a pitch for private-sector and philanthropic contributions to a project they...

By Ray Gronberg

January 29, 2025

State Health Plan update

The name of the event changed, but new State Treasurer Brad Briner intends to continue his predecessor’s practice of holding a media conference call each month. Monday brought the first “DST Open Access” call — as opposed to former Treasurer Dale Folwell’s “Ask Me Anything” — and with it, Briner...

By Ray Gronberg

January 28, 2025

Dueling approaches to drug pricing

One of the Biden Administration’s last actions was announcing that Medicare, the nation’s largest healthcare insurer, will negotiate the prices of 15 more drugs. The matter has major significance for North Carolina’s huge pharmaceutical industry, which produces some of the key drugs on the list. Among the drugs on the...

By Ray Gronberg

January 22, 2025

Johns Hopkins doc joining State Health Plan board

State Treasurer Brad Briner appointed a John Hopkins University health-insurance expert to the board of the State Health Plan. The new appointee, Dr. Brian Miller, replaces Winston-Salem internal medicine Dr. Pete Robie as one of the treasurer’s two appointees to the board that oversees the insurance program for state-paid employees,...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2025

Sen. Burgin, unchained

Burgin’s comments at Thursday’s confab also touched on potential legislative issues. For starters, he told participants to expect legislators to introduce a bill in the upcoming long session that addresses the use of cell phones by students in K-12 schools. He said he’s heard from principals who report that over...

By Ray Gronberg

January 3, 2025

Auditors say nursing home inspections also lag

Yesterday’s Tribune noted state auditor criticism of the Division of Employment Security’s handling of unemployment claims, saying it was too slow in processing many of them in 2023. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders and her staff say the division’s been doing better this year, but remain hampered by having a...

By Welcome

December 20, 2024

Medical Society 404s Thompson statement

N.C. Medical Society officials posted and then un-posted a statement about the shooting death of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson that drew Twitter criticism from a former staffer for state Senate leader Phil Berger. Attributed to Medical Society CEO Chip Baggett, the statement said the group believes “violence is never a...

By Ray Gronberg

December 9, 2024

Folwell going out with something to say

The completion of the Cone/Risant merger occurred on the same day as outgoing State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s valedictory monthly “Ask Me Anything” news conference. As might be expected, his comments included a blast at what he terms the state’s “health care cartel.” The trends there are “all going in the...

By Ray Gronberg

December 4, 2024

Cone Risant Health merger completed

After receiving state and federal approvals, Cone Health of Greensboro said it completed its merger into Risant Health, ending 71 years of local ownership of the Gate City’s largest hospital operation. Risant has committed a minimum of $1.4 billion in capital to Cone Health over the next five years, and...

By Ray Gronberg

December 4, 2024

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