In Depth: Wake Forest Baptist Joins Vidant Health, WakeMed In Major Business Partnership

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center announced Wednesday it will partner with Vidant Health of Greenville and WakeMed of Raleigh in a joint venture at a time in when size and scale in the health care industry are increasingly important.

Owen Covington is covering this story for the Triad Business Journal. “The three hospitals say the broad hope is that efficiency, improved quality and cost savings will help health systems overcome challenges related to reduced hospitalizations, changes in reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid and significant capital investments in new technologies,” says Covington.

Wake Forest Baptist, for instance, has struggled financially in recent years as it confronts those challenges, and has seen two rounds of significant layoffs along with operational losses. Vidant Health, which serves 29 counties in eastern North Carolina, closed its hospital in Belhaven earlier this year, citing financial challenges.

According to his report in the newspaper,  Terry Williams, executive vice president of strategy and network for Wake Forest Baptist, says the partners should decide on a name for the new company within the next 30 days, with initial, key staff being hired within the next 60 days.

Each system contributed $500,000 to the creation of the new company "to get it off the ground," and additional investments are likely to follow, though Williams says the intent is that the cost savings will more than outweigh the investment from the systems.

The Business Report on 88.5 WFDD is a partnership with the Triad Business Journal. To read Owen Covington's stories and more breaking business news from the region, go to Triad.Bizjournals.Com.

Justin Catanoso is director of the Journalism program at Wake Forest University and a regular contributor to 88.5 WFDD.