{"id":11936,"date":"2012-05-23T12:42:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T16:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=11936"},"modified":"2012-05-23T12:42:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T16:42:21","slug":"rex-wakemed-make-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2012\/05\/23\/rex-wakemed-make-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Rex, WakeMed Make Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is co-published with North Carolina Health News<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a resolution to the bitter dispute between Wake County’s two largest health care providers, leaders from both WakeMed Hospital and the UNC Health Care system announced Tuesday an agreement ending their public squabbling.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The agreement extracts many of the things WakeMed wanted from UNC subsidiary Rex Hospital: more transparency about Raleigh-based Rex’s finances and a commitment by Rex to providing more indigent care. The agreement also obligates UNC to provide mental health services in Wake County, and creates changes in the governance of UNC Health Care.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was hard to see what, if anything, WakeMed sacrificed in the deal, other than an opportunity to dominate the Raleigh market.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“We’re very happy with the agreement,” said WakeMed spokeswoman Heather Monackey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

State-owned assets<\/strong>
\nThe agreement ends a dispute that began more than a year and a half ago when WakeMed Hospital made an unsolicited offer to purchase Rex Hospital from UNC for about $750 million.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The offer came after a group of cardiologists defected to Rex Hospital from WakeMed in late 2009. The Wake Heart and Vascular group left WakeMed, even after hospital leaders built new facilities to accommodate patients from the physician group. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

WakeMed leaders accused officials at UNC of being \u201cpredatory\u201d in how they competed in the Raleigh market. Officials from WakeMed also complained that Rex did not do \u201cits fair share\u201d of providing care for the uninsured of Wake County.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2011, leaders at WakeMed made an offer to purchase the state-owned Rex Hospital, saying it could help put close to a billion dollars into state coffers. WakeMed also criticized Rex’s lack of transparency, with WakeMed leaders asking publicly why Rex did not file IRS paperwork usually required by not-for-profit hospitals.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

UNC leaders retorted that as a system, UNC Healthcare gives away plenty in free care, and that Rex was integral to the hospital system’s solvency. They said that as a system, UNC’s finances were reported to the state, Rex’s finances included. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Both organizations bought television, radio and newspaper ads in a high-profile effort to defend their points of view, and started blogs where the rhetoric, at times, got ugly. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

WakeMed’s offer to buy Rex was well-timed, coming during the midst of a state fiscal crisis. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The political timing was also good for WakeMed; former state Republican party chair Tom Fetzer completed a term on WakeMed’s board in 2009, just before leading Republicans to reclaim the General Assembly for the first time in decades. Fetzer became part of WakeMed’s lobbying team in early 2011, at a time when many people in the legislature owed him their jobs.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Legislators formally got involved in late 2011, when the House of Representatives created the Committee on State Owned Assets, to examine the status of Rex Hospital<\/a>, among other issues.<\/span><\/span><\/span> Committee members suggested changing the governance of UNC Health Care<\/a> to make it more accountable to the legislature.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All smiles<\/strong>
\nThe room was all smiles and handshakes on Tuesday, however, when leaders from WakeMed, UNC and Wake County gathered for a press conference on the agreement reached between the two organizations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The agreement obligates UNC Health Care to:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n