Atrium Health

Atrium Health, formerly Carolinas HealthCare System, is an “integrated nonprofit health system” with more than 70,000 employees. It operates 42 hospitals, six freestanding emergency departments, over 30 urgent care centers, and more than 1,500 care locations in the American states of North Carolina and Georgia. It provides care under the Wake Forest Baptist Health name in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, region and Navicent Health in Georgia. Atrium Health offers pediatric, cancer, and heart care, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs.[1]

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority
Atrium Health
FormerlyCarolinas HealthCare System
TypeNorth Carolina Hospital Authority
IndustryHealth care
PredecessorCharlotte Memorial Hospital
FoundedOctober 7, 1940 (1940-10-07) in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Headquarters1000 Blythe Blvd,
Charlotte, North Carolina
,
North Carolina
Number of locations
  • 900+ care locations
  • 29 hospitals
  • 35 emergency departments
  • 32 cancer care locations
  • 3,350+ providers
  • 15,000+ nurses
  • 35 urgent care locations
 (2020)
Area served
North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia
Key people
  • Eugene A. Woods (CEO)
  • Julie Ann Frieschlag (Chief Academic Officer)
  • Carol A. Lovin (Chief Integration Officer and System Chief of Staff (COS)
  • Brett J. Denton (Chief Legal Officer)
  • Rasu Shrestha (CSO)
  • Ken Haynes (President, Greater Charlotte Region)
  • Scott C. Rissmiller (Chief Physician Executive {CPE)
  • Jim Dunn (Chief People and Culture Officer)
  • Anthony DeFurio (CFO)
  • James C. Hunter (Chief Medical Officer)
  • Kristen Morris (Chief Government Relations Officer)
  • J. Michael Parkerson (Chief Marketing Officer)
  • J. Andy Crowder (CIO)
Services
Revenue
  • $9.9 billion net operating revenue
  • $5.8 million uncompensated care
 (2019)
Number of employees
~70,000 (2020)
Divisions

Legally, Atrium Health is The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority,[2] a municipal hospital authority established under North Carolina's Hospital Authorities Act (North Carolina General Statutes chapter 131E, part 2). The authority is governed by a self-perpetuating board of commissioners which nominates new commissioners to fill its own vacancies; the chair of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners can approve or veto those nominations but not make nominations of her own.[3]

History
  • In 1876, Jane Wilkes leads the effort to establish St. Peter's Hospital, originally called Charlotte Home and Hospital, in Charlotte's Fourth Ward.
  • Charlotte Memorial Hospital opens in 1940, replacing St. Peter's Hospital, whose remaining patients are transferred to Charlotte Memorial on October 7.
  • In 1943, Charlotte Memorial Hospital takes on a new legal status, known officially as the Charlotte Memorial Hospital Authority. This name was changed in 1961 to Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority.
  • Charlotte Memorial Hospital Authority assumes ownership and management of Good Samaritan Hospital, the city's only hospital providing non-emergency care to racial minority patients.
  • Charlotte Memorial Hospital adopts the first graphic version of its now-familiar "Tree of Life" logo in 1982.
  • Charlotte Memorial Hospital changes its name to Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) in 1990, and CMC is designated as one of North Carolina's five Academic Medical Center Teaching Hospitals.
  • The Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority begins using the name "Carolinas Healthcare System" in 1996.
  • In 2019, CMC underwent the system-wide rebrand and is now Atrium Health's Carolinas Medical Center.[4]
  • In 2020, Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health combined, creating a “next-generation academic health system.”[5]

COVID-19 Response
  • Atrium Health initiated a "nationally leading, innovative testing model," integrating actionable Geographic Information System (GIS) data with mobile medical units to address the testing disparity among underserved and minority communities.
  • Atrium Health's Levine Children's Hospital is one of 30 sites across the world – and the only children's hospital in North Carolina – selected to open a clinical trial to test the efficacy of remdesivir in pediatric patients who test positive for COVID-19.[6]
  • Atrium Health launched a new initiative, “Para Tu Salud” – simply translated to “For Your Health” – to further educate and inform Hispanic communities on how to stay safe and healthy.[7]
  • Atrium Health expanded hospital capacity by opening new Atrium Health COVID-19 Virtual Hospital.
  • The acute surgery division at Atrium Health's Carolinas Medical Center developed a "hospital blueprint" for handling essential operations during the COVID-19 pandemic to help guide hospital surgery departments through the crisis.[8]
  • Atrium Health was invited to participate in the COVID-19 Community Research Partnership by Wake Forest Baptist Health, a nationally recognized academic medical center and health system based in Winston-Salem, N.C.[9]
  • Atrium Health developed a new vaccine research program, “STRIVE for Healthier Futures,” with a goal of identifying a vaccine that safely and effectively prevents the spread of COVID-19. The STRIVE program, which stands for strategic research, innovation, vaccines, and engagement, consists of a "diverse, multi-disciplinary team of researchers, scientists, physicians, and other medical experts within the Atrium Health enterprise."[10]
  • Atrium Health offers three new outpatient treatment clinical trials. These clinical trials are currently the only outpatient treatment trials available in the region to address COVID-19.[11]
  • Atrium Health is the first healthcare system in North Carolina to administer an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer.[12] The organization says high-priority, patient-facing employees are "among the first in the nation to receive the vaccine."[13]

Hospitals & Facilities

Atrium Health is based in Charlotte, NC. Carolinas Medical Center is the flagship hospital for the entire system (located between Dilworth and Myers Park). Atrium Health operates six freestanding Emergency Departments. These are 24-hour emergency care centers for the treatment of urgent and emergency medical conditions, but are not attached to a full service hospital. Known as Atrium Health Urgent Care, it is a system of 33 urgent care centers in the Charlotte metropolitan area. While a few are 24 hours, most are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., seven days a week (except Thanksgiving and Christmas).[14]

Medical Education & Research
  • Wake Forest School of Medicine] (The “academic core” of Atrium Health.[15] The main campus is located in Winston-Salem, NC, and a second location is expected to be built in Charlotte, NC.[16])
  • Cabarrus College of Health Sciences (An education facility located on NE campus in Concord, NC)
  • James G. Cannon Research Center (A research facility located on Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center] campus in the Dilworth neighborhood)
  • Carolinas College of Health Sciences] (An education facility, on Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center] campus in the Dilworth neighborhood)

Other Facilities

In addition to providing patients with quality health care, Atrium Health operates long-term care facilities in the Charlotte Area. Other facilities of importance include:

  • Carolinas Physician Network (Network of Physician Offices in North and South Carolina)
  • Crawley Memorial Hospital (Defunct) - a Long-term acute care facility located in Boiling Springs
  • Mercy School of Nursing (Defunct) (Education Facility, located in southwest Charlotte) [17]
  • Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute is a cardiovascular practice in Charlotte, North Carolina.[18] It is the region's only clinic to offer minimally invasive heart bypass option and heart transplant center. Sanger includes more than 175 providers and 20 care centers across the Carolinas. Founded in 1956 by Paul Sanger and Dr. Francis Robicsek,[19][20]

Strategic Combinations

Wake Forest Baptist Health (based in Winston-Salem, NC)

On October 9, 2020, Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health, including Wake Forest School of Medicine, officially joined together as a single enterprise, Atrium Health.[21] The strategic combination has laid out a "collective vision to transform medical education, expand patient-centered research and innovation, and define the next generation of clinical excellence."[22] The new enterprise became effective immediately.

The strategic combination was first announced in April 2019,[23] with a definitive agreement signed in October 2019, following approval by each entity's governing board.

On October 23, 2020, Atrium Health announced $3.4 billion in planned investments for Wake Forest Baptist Health and the communities it serves over the next 10 years.[24] Atrium Health will invest approximately $2.8 billion to improve facilities and fund critical investments.[25]

On February 8, 2018, Atrium Health and Navicent Health of Macon, Georgia announced a partnership.[26]

On December 19, 2018, leaders from Atrium Health and Navicent Health signed the definitive agreement that commits to the organizations’ strategic combination. The agreement was effective January 1, 2019, making Navicent Health the central and south Georgia hub for the Atrium Health network.[27]

Floyd Health System

On November 5, 2019, Atrium Health and Floyd Health System (Floyd) announced that the organizations signed a letter of intent to combine, with the goal of “bringing enhanced capabilities and new investments in skills and talent, facilities and technology to the communities served by Floyd.”[28] The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals by state authorities and is anticipated to be completed by early 2021.

Controversy
  • On June 9, 2016, it was reported that the U.S. Justice Department and the N.C. Attorney General's office filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Carolinas HealthCare System, alleging the chain illegally reduces competition in the local health care market.[29] Atrium Health settled the lawsuit with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice on November 15, 2018. The settlement included injunctive terms restricting Atrium's ability to add provisions to its contracts that would be considered anticompetitive.
  • On July 3, 2017 it was reported that Carolina's Healthcare System (CHS) had agreed to pay a $6.5 million False Claims Act settlement to settle charges over its billing practices brought by a whistle blower, U.S. Attorney Jill Rose said Friday. Prosecutors contended the Charlotte-based hospital system had been improperly “up-coding” claims for urine drug tests in order to receive much higher payments than CHS would have if billed properly. CHS contended that two separate consultants had reviewed its practices and had confirmed its coding selection amid “complex and constantly changing billing guidelines.” After two years into the process, CHS said it was in the system's best interest to resolve the charges.[30]
  • On February 13, 2020, security guards at Atrium Health Lincolnton and the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department received media attention regarding an incident where a sixteen-year-old boy brought to the hospital's emergency room by his mother, was pushed, tased and tackled to the pavement from behind by Atrium Health security guards. When sheriff's deputies arrived, video shows a deputy hitting the now handcuffed boy, in the face twice after the boy spit blood at the deputy. The video also shows the deputy then aggressively approached the mother, yelling at her before being pulled to the ground by a second deputy, In an interview with WBTV, Sheriff Bill Beam defended his deputies saying they did nothing wrong and denying that the officer struck the boy in the face. The boy was arrested and charged with felony assault on a police officer.[31] On February 17, 2020, the juvenile entered guilty pleas to the charges; one count of simple assault and one count of consuming alcohol by a minor. According to media reports, the pleas were entered to avoid his being tried as an adult on the felony assault charge.[32]

References
  1. "Specialty Care Services". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  2. Charlene Butterfield and Liz Sweeney (19 April 2013). "Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority (Carolinas HealthCare System), North Carolina; Joint Criteria; System" (PDF). Standard & Poor's. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  3. Alexander, Ames (16 June 2012). "Officials: Taxpayers need say on CHS". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  4. "Atrium Health's Carolinas Medical Center: Where it All Began". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  5. "Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health Combine, Create Next-Generation Academic Health System". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  6. "Levine Children's selected as one of 30 sites worldwide to open remdesivir clinical trial". wbtv.com. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  7. Health, Atrium. "Atrium Health Increases Ongoing Commitment to Charlotte's Hispanic Community Amid COVID-19". prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  8. "Critical Care Surgery Team Develops Hospital Blueprint for Handling Essential Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  9. "New COVID-19 Community Research Partnership Uses Innovative Methods to Learn More About the Virus". atriumhealth.org. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  10. WBTV Charlotte. "Vaccine research registry opens in Charlotte". wbtv.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  11. "Atrium Health Offers Three New Treatment Trials for COVID-19". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  12. Hudson, Caroline (December 14, 2020). "Atrium Health receives Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, begins administering shots to employees". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  13. "Atrium Health First to Administer COVID-19 Vaccine in North Carolina". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  14. "Urgent Care Locations & Hours". Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  15. "Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health Combine, Create Next-Generation Academic Health System". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  16. Observer, Hannah Smoot | The Charlotte. "Atrium, Wake Forest Baptist officially combine, paving way for Charlotte med school". wbtv.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-08-13. Retrieved 2013-09-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. "Francis Robicsek, MD, PhD: a conversation with the editor ∗". American Journal of Cardiology. 85 (11): 1340–1356. 2000-06-01. doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(00)00880-8. ISSN 0002-9149. PMID 10831952.
  19. "Dr. Francis Robicsek, surgeon and humanitarian, dies at 94".
  20. "Francis Robicsek, Obituary - Charlotte, NC". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  21. Smoot, Hannah (October 9, 2020). "Atrium, Wake Forest Baptist officially combine, paving way for Charlotte med school". The Charlotte Observer.
  22. "Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health Combine, Create Next-Generation Academic Health System". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  23. "Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest University Announce Intent to Create Transformative Academic Healthcare System". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  24. "Atrium Health Announces $3.4 Billion in Investments Into Wake Forest Baptist Health and its Communities". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  25. Finnegan, Daniel (October 23, 2020). "Atrium Health to invest $3.4 billion in Wake Forest Baptist Health, including $2.8B in new facilities". Triad Business Journal. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  26. "Atrium Health and Navicent Health Announce Plans to Form Strategic Combination to Serve Communities in Central and South Georgia". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  27. "Atrium Health and Navicent Health to complete combination Jan. 1". Modern Healthcare. 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  28. "Floyd Health System and Atrium Health to Join in Strategic Combination". Atrium Health. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  29. "State and feds say Carolinas HealthCare drove up costs by curbing competition". Charlotte Observer.
  30. "Carolinas HealthCare to pay $6.5 million settlement over urine tests". Charlotte Observer.
  31. Ochsner, Nick. "Video shows teen assaulted by Atrium security, Lincoln Co. sheriff's deputy outside ER". WBTV. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  32. February 20, Evan Moore | on; 2020. "Atrium altercation leads to teen's plea deal | Lake Norman Publications". lakenormanpublications.com. Retrieved 2020-08-26.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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