North Carolina’s Atrium Health Merging With Advocate Aurora Health

Big news for healthcare in North Carolina! Atrium Health announced Wednesday that they are combining with Advocate Aurora Health. The organizations cited their complementary strengths, diverse experiences, and enhanced capabilities as key enablers to improving lives.

“The world of healthcare as we know it is changing at warp speed – and it is rapidly becoming more digital, personalized, scientific and complex,” said Eugene A. Woods, president and chief executive officer of Atrium Health. “This strategic combination will enable us to deepen our commitments to health equity, create more jobs and opportunities for our teammates and communities, launch new, game-changing innovations and so much more. Together, we will manifest a new future that significantly elevates the care we provide to every hand we hold and every life we touch.”

“Together, we can do more, be better and go faster,” said Jim Skogsbergh, president and chief executive officer of Advocate Aurora Health, in a prepared statement. “This combination harnesses our complementary strengths and expertise of our doctors, nurses and teammates to lead health care’s transformation for those we are so proud to serve."

Leaders cited the organizations’ combined clinical excellence – including in medical research and population health – as well as advanced capabilities in data analytics and digital consumer infrastructure as key-value accelerators for the merger. This will allow the combined company to make a positive impact across six key areas: clinical pre-eminence and safety, health equity, affordability, next-generation workforce, learning and discovery, and environmental sustainability.

The deal includes a $2 billion pledge to disrupt the root causes of health inequities. This is for both rural and urban underserved communities.  They also site the goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. And finally a pledge to create more than 20,000 new jobs across the communities they serve.

The new organization will span Illinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. The organization will care for more than 5.5 million patients at more than 1,000 care locations and 67 hospitals.  It will employ more than 7,600 physicians and nearly 150,000 support staff. The merger was unanimously approved by boards for both Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. It is still subject to a regulatory review.  The enterprise will be governed by a board of directors. An equal number of members from Advocate Aurora and Atrium Health will make up the board.

The combined organization will transition to a new brand under the umbrella "Advocate Health". The Advocate Health and Atrium Health brands will continue to be used in their respective local markets. Wake Forest University School of Medicine, which has a campus coming to Charlotte, will be the academic core.

Advocate Health will be headquartered in Charlotte. However, they will maintain a strong organizational presence in Chicago and Milwaukee.

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How safe is the hospital you're choosing for care? Any time you are receiving any form of medical treatment you want to make sure you're getting the best and safest treatment possible. Luckily for more than 20 years, The Leapfrog Group has published hospital data on safety and quality. According to their website, they undertake this endeavor in order to "push the health care industry forward". This helps consumers find high-value care and make informed health care decisions. They release data for the entire country but we've narrowed it down for you North Carolina, with the hospital safety grades for the greater Charlotte area.

Our region is home to two large hospital systems both Atrium and Novant as well as some smaller regional facilities. Overall the vast majority of hospitals received "A" grades. Though a couple of North and South Carolina hospitals even received a "C" hospital safety grade. Ouch. Can't say I'll be seeking care there. Hopefully these grades do their intended purpose though and lead to change benefitting the patients.

According to Leapfrog:

Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades (formerly known as Hospital Safety Scores) are assigned to nearly 3,000 general acute-care hospitals across the nation twice annually. The Safety Grade is the gold standard measure of patient safety, cited in MSNBC, The New York Times, and AARP The Magazine.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses more than 30 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Additional information is gathered from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. Taken together, those performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance. This includes keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology has been peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Patient Safety.

Overall Grade: A

Address: 1000 Blythe Boulevard
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203-5871

Overall Grade: A

Address: 1000 Blythe Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28203-5871

Overall Grade: A

Address: 200 Hawthorne Lane
Charlotte, NC 28204-2528

Overall Grade: B

Address: 10628 Park Rd
Charlotte, NC 28210

Overall Grade: A

Address: 1500 Matthews Township Parkway
Matthews, NC 28105-4656

Overall Grade: A

Address: 8201 Healthcare Loop
Charlotte, NC 28215-7072

Overall Grade: A

Address: 8800 N. Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28262-8415

Overall Grade: A

Address: 10030 Gilead Road
Huntersville, NC 28078

Overall Grade: A

Address: 2525 COURT DR
GASTONIA, NC 28054-2142

Overall Grade: A

Address: 433 McAlister Rd
Lincolnton, NC 28092

Overall Grade: A

Address: 706 West King St
Kings Mountain, NC 28086-2708

Overall Grade: A

Address: 201 East Grover St
Shelby, NC 28150

Overall Grade: B

Address: 171 Fairview Road
Mooresville, NC 28117

Overall Grade: B

Address: 557 Brookdale Drive
Statesville, NC 28677-1828

Overall Grade: C

Address: 218 Old Mocksville Road
Statesville, NC 28625-1930

Overall Grade: A

Address: 920 Church Street
Concord, NC 28025-2983

Overall Grade: A

Address: 612 Mocksville Avenue
Salisbury, NC 28144-2799

Overall Grade: A

Address: 301 Yadkin Street
Albemarle, NC 28001-3448

Overall Grade: B

Address: 600 Hospital Drive
Monroe, NC 28112-6000

Overall Grade: B

Address: 222 S. Herlong Avenue
Rock Hill, SC 29732-1952

Overall Grade: C

Address: 800 W. Meeting Street
Lancaster, SC 29720-2298