Here are 6 key things to know about Atrium Health’s latest hospital deal
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Atrium Health to double its size in major deal
Charlotte’s largest hospital system said it will combine with Wisconsin-based Advocate Aurora Health in another national expansion. Here’s everything you need to know.
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Charlotte’s biggest hospital system is getting even bigger. Atrium Health announced plans to combine with Illinois and Wisconsin-based Advocate Aurora Health Wednesday.
Here are six key points you should know about Atrium Health and the business combination.
Where will the new headquarters be?
Atrium Health is headquartered in Charlotte.
Advocate Aurora Health was formed after a merger between then-Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care that was announced in 2017. Advocate Aurora Health operates dual headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Downer’s Grove, Illinois.
The new combined system will be headquartered in Charlotte, and will offer services across Illinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
What’s the name of the new system?
The combined system will operate under the name Advocate Health.
But the Advocate, Aurora and Atrium Health brands will still be used locally, so patients will still see familiar names they are used to.
How big is the new health system?
The new system will have combined revenues of more than $27 billion.
It will be the fifth largest health system nationally in terms of revenue, according to Atrium.
The health system will serve 5.5 million patients, operate more than 1,000 sites of care and 67 hospitals and employ nearly 150,000 people.
What’s happening with Charlotte’s med school?
The Advocate Aurora Health combination will not affect the timeline for the Charlotte medical school, Atrium CEO Gene Woods said.
The school, a second campus for the Wake Forest School of Medicine, will be built on a 20-acre parcel at the intersection of Baxter Street and South McDowell Street, Atrium announced last year.
“Because it’s right off of I-277, I believe it will become an iconic addition to the Queen City skyline,” Woods said at the time. “Everyone who sees it will know this is a place where excellence lives and excellence is learned.”
The school will host its first class of students in 2024.
And plans for the medical school include plans for a $1.5 billion innovation district called The Pearl. A rezoning petition filed by Atrium Health for land on McDowell Street calls for a multi-use development that would contain the medical school, research offices, residential units along with hotel and retail space, according to Charlotte records.
How fast has Atrium grown?
This is the fourth strategic combination announced by Atrium Health in five years.
Previously, Atrium has announced strategic combinations with Georgia-based Navicent Health, North Carolina-based Wake Forest Baptist Health and Georgia-based Floyd health system.
“One of the things we have learned through COVID, is that the digital world and telehealth has no state boundaries,” Woods said Tuesday. “We’re looking to create a national system so we can serve communities better.”
Some critics of hospital consolidation, including Duke Law School professor Barak Richman, have warned these types of deals can increase prices for patients and give hospital systems more bargaining power with insurance companies.
“What they really own,” Richman said, talking about the new combined system, “are a whole bunch of small mini monopolies.”
What’s next for the Atrium deal?
The combined health system Advocate Health will still need regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission.
Atrium is hopeful regulatory approval could come this year, spokesman Dan Fogleman told the Observer.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 11:00 AM.
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