ECU, Vidant execute formal agreement to integrate

Jul 31, 2017

East Carolina University and Vidant Health executed a formal agreement Wednesday to integrate ECU Physicians Group and Vidant Medical Group, completing a merger that gives away state assets and jeopardizes the future and stability of 1,200 state employees.

This deal essentially gives Vidant a monopoly over health services in Eastern North Carolina. It will dramatically weaken competition in a community that desperately relies upon affordable and accessible healthcare. 

Throughout this process, the state employees at ECU Physicians were promised that they would have an opportunity to collaborate and offer input on merger discussions. Instead, this deal was made behind closed doors, intentionally designed to silence the voices of the people who would be impacted the most.

SEANC has been actively pursuing legal avenues to best advocate on behalf of the 1,200 affected state employees. Know that our fight doesn’t stop here. We will continue to challenge any agreement that hands the hard-earned money of taxpayers over to private interests without legislative approval and public input.

Your involvement is more critical now than ever. Click here to email your legislators and ask them to publicly oppose this merger. Urge them to stand up and protect state employees, taxpayers and accessible healthcare. Together, we can stand up to make it clear that ECU is not for sale. The General Assembly reconvenes on Thursday, August 3, 2017, for a special session. It is imperative that SEANC comes out to the legislature on the 3rd to stand alongside and fight with our members at ECU Physicians. We will continue to update you as more details emerge.