Doctor dealing.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: NC TREND: Eastern Region

Project Unify is the Orwellian name for one of the most important business deals in eastern North Carolina: The pending merger of ECU Physicians and Vidant Medical Group, each of which employs about 400 doctors with a combined staff of more than 1,200.

The plan negotiations were disclosed last July, and the time needed to complete the deal has frustrated many, East Carolina University Chancellor Cecil Staton said in early March. Virtually everything about health care tends to be complicated, he says, but it's a complex task to combine a state-owned physicians' practice with Vidant, an independent, not-for-profit system with net income of $81 million and annual revenue of $1.6 billion last year.

ECU Physicians is made up of doctors who are state employees and, in many cases, also teach at the university's Brody School of Medicine. Efficiencies in a combination could cut redundant jobs and change compensation plans.

Vidant and Brody have a combined annual economic impact of $3 billion, while tens of millions of dollars are likely to change hands in the transaction, according to members of the UNC Board of Governors, which must approve the sale. The board spent an hour at a March meeting arguing over how to speed the merger process. Ultimately they gave authority to Staton, UNC System President Margaret Spellings and board member Scott Lampe to try to negotiate a deal...