Atrium Health Removed from North Carolina State Health Plan Network

Starting next year, most hospitals and doctors’ offices owned by Atrium Health will no longer be in-network for the North Carolina State Health Plan, which covers more than 750,000 state employees, retirees and their families. The removal follows a legal dispute in which a judge ruled in Atrium’s favor after Treasurer Brad Briner sued to block the health system’s subsidy program for state-employee patients.

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The State Health Plan is confronting a deficit measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. Since taking office last year, Treasurer Brad Briner has tried to curb the shortfall by raising premiums and introducing a tiered provider system that rewards members who use lower-cost clinicians. Atrium Health, the state’s largest health-care network with facilities in Charlotte, Winston-Salem and elsewhere, is slated to merge with Raleigh-based WakeMed, a move intended to challenge the dominance of UNC Health and Duke Health. In response to the impending network removal, Atrium announced a program to subsidize the higher out-of-network costs for its state-employee patients.

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Atrium and its parent company Advocate Health did not immediately comment on the removal. The judge’s decision, which favored Atrium, effectively blocked Briner’s attempt to halt the subsidy program, prompting the plan’s decision to drop Atrium from its network.

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For the 750,000 plan members, the shift could mean higher out-of-pocket expenses if they continue to seek care at Atrium facilities, unless the health system’s subsidy remains in place. Briner’s written statement acknowledges the “back and forth” as unsettling but frames it as routine administrative adjustment. The removal adds pressure on the State Health Plan’s finances while highlighting the broader tension between the state’s cost-containment efforts and Atrium’s expansion strategy.

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“We understand that this back and forth is unsettling for our members, but this is all behind-the scenes-bookkeeping,” — Carolina Treasurer Brad Briner

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