Hours before several hundred people filled a southeast Raleigh church to voice concerns about a proposed combination of WakeMed and Charlotte-based Atrium Health, the chief executives of both systems and their lawyers met privately with three Wake County commissioners.
That July 27 session was the first time any elected county board member had access to details of the working contract for what the systems call a "planned strategic combination," according to North Carolina Health News. Board chairman Don Mial and commissioners Safiyah Jackson and Cheryl Stallings reviewed documents and questioned lawyers alongside WakeMed President and CEO Donald Gintzig and Gene Woods, chief executive of Atrium's parent company Advocate. They agreed not to disclose specifics of the systems designated as confidential proprietary information. The four other board members were not invited.