The latest row between WakeMed Health and Hospitals and UNC Health Care has placed the UNC system and looming state budget cuts at the center of the fray. In a letter to UNC-system President Thomas Ross last week, WakeMed officials offered to purchase Rex Healthcare, a subsidiary of UNC Health Care, for $750 million. Officials said the sale could alleviate the state's economic troubles and proposed cuts to higher education. "This influx of cash will significantly positively impact the state and in return the university system and UNC Health Care," the letter said. WakeMed, a private, not-for-profit healthcare system based in Raleigh, has clashed with UNC Health Care in the past. WakeMed has accused UNC Health Care of engaging in "predatory behavior" and using its state resources to limit competition and partner with profitable private physicians' practices and hospitals like Rex.
