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State workers worry about health coverage as Cone Health, state remain at odds over new State Health Plan

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A Lee Enterprises, Incorporated newspaper. Majority shareholder: David Hoffmann, Hoffmann Media Group.

State workers worry about health coverage as Cone Health, state remain at odds over new State Health Plan

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20190714g_nws_state health plan_art

Cone Health (copy)

In this May 3, 2018, photo, Chelsea Martin, a CT technologist, works with a patient in the medical imaging and radiology department at Moses Cone Hospital.

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Casual observers might have been surprised by the anger and vitriol in a recent email from a Cone Health official to leaders of the State Health Plan.

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+2 

Akin

Contact Taft Wireback at 336-373-7100 and follow @TaftWirebackNR on Twitter.

By the numbers

$258 million — State savings under "Clear Pricing Project"

$50 million — Savings in out-of-pocket costs for state employees

$26 million — What Cone Health says it would lose under the plan

Cone CEO reacts to blistering email

Cone Health chief executive Terry Akin sent this email to about 70 state legislators Friday evening:

Dear Eastern Triad legislators and members of health committees,

As many of you may have seen in the news this week, a Cone Health employee sent an email expressing his personal opinion and frustration with the State Treasurer’s planned cuts to State Health Plan reimbursements and his belief that doing so will harm our state's teachers and other state employees. The language in the email was unprofessional, highly offensive, and wholly inappropriate, completely counter to the culture and values of Cone Health or anything our organization’s leadership would support or condone.

Based on feedback from some of you at the legislative building, I do want to clarify two misunderstandings from the original WXII article – I realize this may have already become apparent to you in reading subsequent articles. First, although the WXII headline reported “a Cone Health executive,” the employee is a line-level assistant manager who is in no way engaged in executive-level discussions, nor does the language he used in his email at all reflect the way any members of our leadership team think. Second, the WXII story reported that the email went to “state leaders.” I also want to clarify that the email was sent only to SHPBoard@nctreasurer.com<mailto:SHPBoard@nctreasurer.com> from the individual’s private e-mail address, and not to members of the General Assembly or others in state government. If you received an email from this individual, please let me know.

Cone Health leadership always strives to adhere to the principle that real problems get solved only with respectful, civil dialogue over issues on which we may disagree. Moreover, that type of interaction is the key to developing the best possible health plan for state employees. The terrible judgement exercised by this single employee was very unfortunate and in no way helpful at a time when our leadership team and I have been seeking nothing other than to build bridges for collaboration on the future of health care for our state. It is my sincere hope that we can move forward together and engage in creating the very best health plan for our deserving and indispensable teachers, troopers, other state employees and all North Carolinians.

Please feel free to forward this to any other members of the legislature who have questions. I am hopeful that our elected officials, state treasurer and health care leaders can work hand in hand to find a better path forward for all those we are privileged to serve. I invite you to reach out to me as we work on this together.

Sincerely,

Terry Akin

CEO, Cone Health

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In this May 3, 2018, photo, Chelsea Martin, a CT technologist, works with a patient in the medical imaging and radiology department at Moses Cone Hospital.

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