Tryon Medical Partners eyes expansion amid huge Atrium Health merger. Here’s what’s next
Almost four years ago, a group of roughly 90 physicians split off from Atrium Health, accusing the health care giant of monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior.
Now, even as Atrium Health navigates a plan to double in size, those physicians, now Tryon Medical Partners, say there’s a “clear-cut path” for growth for independent groups in the Charlotte area.
In fact, Charlotte-based Tryon Medical Partners is opening up another new location later this year.
The practice’s 11th office is expected to open on Billingsley Road off of Randolph Road in late fall, Tryon Medical CEO Dr. Dale Owen told The Charlotte Observer.
Last September, Tryon Medical opened a new clinic at 630 Matthews Township Parkway, a larger clinic to replace its old Matthews location.
Tryon Medical Partners also has three lots ready for future development, Owen said.
But Tryon Medical is keeping its eye on local expansion, unlike its much larger competitor, Atrium.
Atrium combination
Atrium Health announced plans to combine with Midwest hospital system Advocate Aurora Health in May. That deal still needs to receive regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission. Atrium Health did not immediately respond to the Observer to provide an update on the status of the deal.
The combination would make the new joint system, operating under the name Advocate Health, the fifth-largest health care system in the country, Atrium Health CEO Gene Woods told the Observer in May.
The system would be headquartered in Charlotte, with a combined revenue of more than $27 billion.
“Size will enable us to serve our communities,” Woods told the Observer at the time. “We’re just looking to do that more, better, faster.”
But hospital consolidation critic and Duke Law School professor Barak Richman called the deal “very, very alarming.”
A consolidation deal of that size could mean higher prices, suppressed wages for nurses and physicians and even more expensive national insurance plans, Richman told the Observer in May. That’s because bigger hospital systems have more negotiating power with national insurance plans.
That type of hospital consolidation is exactly what Tryon Medical Partners CEO Owen has been warning against.
In 2019, Owen told the Observer: “This is our goal, this is our mission: And that’s to free physicians from hospital systems so they can take care of patients in the most efficient, cost-efficient and value-based way possible.”
Charlotte’s other hospital system, Novant Health, has seen its share of growth recently, too.
In 2020, Novant beat out Atrium Health and Duke Health in a $5 billion deal to purchase New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.
Novant Health declined to speak with the Observer for this story.
Tryon Medical Partners growth
Hospital consolidation critics like Richman have warned that deals like the recent Atrium announcement can lead to higher prices for patients. But consolidation can also lead to lower salaries for hospital employees, Owen said.
Salaries might spike first to compete, but once the market is stabilized, he predicts hospital salaries will start dropping.
“For non-hospital physicians like Tryon Medical Partners, it’s a great opportunity,” he said. “There’s a clear-cut path for independent physicians. … Primary care is especially in a very good position to be able to control it’s own destiny.”
In 2018, Tryon Medical Partners got its start with 88 doctors and 115,000 patients, Owen said. Now, the practice has 105 physicians and 185,000 patients — that accounts for more than 20% of the adult population in Mecklenburg County.
And Tryon Medical has had to turn away dozens of job requests from physicians from both of Charlotte’s major hospital systems, he said, adding: “There’s just loads of opportunity out there.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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