North Carolina restores perinatal program after Medicaid funding dispute delayed research
Latest
Readers power every story we tell.
North Carolina Health Series
More News
After months of contention and behind-the-scenes lobbying, new Atrium-WakeMed deal has more benefits for Wake County
By Michelle Crouch and Anne Blythe Key Takeaways: The first weekend in May, just before Wake County commissioners were initially planning to vote on a proposed combination of Atrium Health and WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Wake County Commissioner Vickie Adamson was worried. “This feels way too rushed to me,” she wrote in a May 2…
Atrium Health boosted executive compensation by 21 percent in 2025
By Michelle Crouch Co-published with The Charlotte Ledger Key Takeaways: The compensation of Charlotte-based Atrium Health’s top executives rose by an average of 21 percent in 2025, according to newly released records, as the hospital giant seeks to combine with Raleigh-based WakeMed Health & Hospitals. The executive compensation report from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, which…
10 key questions about the proposed WakeMed-Atrium deal
By Michelle Crouch Key Takeaways: For almost four months, supporters and critics of Atrium Health’s proposed combination with Raleigh-based WakeMed Health and Hospitals have filled meeting rooms, fired off emails to elected officials, carried signs and bought radio ads as they argued over what the deal would mean for Wake County. Wake County commissioners are…
As Atrium pursues WakeMed, a look inside its last big North Carolina deal
By Michelle Crouch Key Takeaways: As Atrium Health continues its push to join forces with Raleigh-based WakeMed Health & Hospitals, its leaders have repeatedly pointed to another North Carolina deal as evidence of what to expect: its 2020 combination with Winston-Salem-based Wake Forest Baptist. “Don’t judge us by what we say; judge us by what…
The race to power AI could reshape North Carolina’s grid — and its communities
By Will Atwater Key Takeaways: On July 24, nurses and environmental advocates gathered outside the General Assembly in Raleigh to protest the North Carolina AI Leadership Council’s new strategic road map for the state’s adoption and use of artificial intelligence. Protesters raised concerns, among other topics, about electricity costs and new energy infrastructure required to…
What is Medetomidine? The latest threat in the street drug supply
By Taylor Knopf Key Takeaways: North Carolina’s supply of illicit street drugs is in a constant state of change. People are no longer buying just heroin, fentanyl or opioid pills anymore, as most samples of these illegal drugs have more than one substance in them. People often don’t know what is in their drugs because…
