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What The Carolinas Healthcare-UNC Merger Means For Patients

Doctor checks on baby at hosptial
Slava
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Flickr - Creative Commons - https://flic.kr/p/8mh8fz
Carolinas Healthcare and UNC Health merge in hopes of delivering better care to patients.

Hospital executives announced last week that the state’s largest hospital system, Carolinas Healthcare, would combine with UNC Health. They called the nearly $14 billion move “a marriage, not a merger.” 

Hospital leadership claim the decision will better position them to serve patients, especially in rural areas. But the giant union raises questions about the system’s ability to negotiate prices from insurance companies – costs that would likely be passed along to patients.

Host Frank Stasio talks with WUNC data reporter Jason Debruyn about plans for the healthcare giants, and what they mean for North Carolina patients. 

Jennifer Brookland is the American Homefront Project Veterans Reporting Fellow. She covers stories about the military and veterans as well as issues affecting the people and places of North Carolina.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.