#wakemed

As patients testing positive for coronavirus begin to pour into area hospitals, health care workers’ front line of defense is less than a millimeter of protective fabric — face masks and gloves that keep doctors and nurses from becoming infected with the virus themselves, and keep them from infecting other patients.

But there isn’t enough of this vital gear to go around, and area hospitals — Duke Health, UNC Health, and WakeMed — are asking the community to chip in.

One local company allegedly saw an opportunity in the crisis, according to a price-gouging complaint made to the state Attorney General’s Office, one of 225 such complaints the office has received since Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency on March 10.  Most focus on stores jacking up the price of hand sanitizer or toilet paper.   This one, however, alleges that a Morrisville-based business tried to charge Duke Health more than four times the normal cost of face masks.

On March 11, Mike Kivel, the director of Duke Hospital’s supply chain, received an email from Oliver Block, a sales representative for Stephen Gould, whose website describes it as “the largest independent custom product and packaging solutions provider” in the country.

Normally, Duke pays $35 for a pack of 17 N95 face masks, about $2 a mask, according to the price-gouging complaint.  For a bulk order of 7 million masks, Stephen Gould wanted to charge $8.45 per mask, according to emails included in the complaint.

“Due to the extremely high demand, and sold-out U.S. supply, we’re currently importing products from Mexico and South America but it is all volume-based business and time-restricted,” Stephen Gould employee Sam Sweet wrote to Duke in a March 12 email.

In the complaint, a Duke Health procurement employee called the pricing “usurious,” noting the manufacturer hasn’t changed its pricing.

Representatives from Stephen Gould did not return the INDY’s request for comment.  Duke Health spokeswoman Sarah Avery declined to comment on this alleged incident.

Duke, WakeMed, and UNC are asking the public to donate the supplies they need to fight the virus.

“This situation is unprecedented, and we are asking for extra help,” says UNC Health CEO Wesley Burkes.

The most urgent need is for N95 face masks, surgical masks, and nasal swabs.  Hospitals are also asking for disinfectant, safety goggles, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap, and shoe covers.

Hospitals can only accept new, unopened supplies.

Monetary donations are also welcome.

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Drop-off Locations

Duke Health

100 Golden Drive, Durham

8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

UNC Health

2001 Carrington Mill Boulevard, Morrisville

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

100 Sprunt Street, Chapel Hill

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

350 Stonecroft Lane, Cary

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

UNC Rex Wellness Center

4200 Lake Boone Trail, Raleigh

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Contact Raleigh editor Leigh Tauss at [email protected].

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RALEIGH -- About 40,000 people in Wake and Durham counties will not be stranded without a health insurer next year on the Affordable Care Act marketplace in the wake of cutbacks by the state’s dominant health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Centene, the nation’s largest ACA insurer, has created a two-county medical network with WakeMed Health & Hospitals and Duke University Health System to fill a gap being created by a Blue Cross decision not to include WakeMed and Duke Health in its ACA network in the Triangle next year.

Raleigh-based WakeMed and Durham-based Duke Health announced the partnership Thursday.

Centene’s Ambetter plans will be offered in Durham and Wake counties starting Nov. 1 and will go into effect Jan. 1.  Centene has not previously sold health insurance in North Carolina.  Missouri-based Centene currently insures about 1.5 million people on ACA plans in 16 states.

“The main thing is people will have a choice,” WakeMed CEO Donald Gintzig told The News & Observer in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.  “So they’re encouraged to look at plans and choose one that allows them to get care where they want to get care.”

Detailed pricing for the ACA health insurance plans is under review by the N.C. Department of Insurance and won’t be public until October.  But Duke Health official Thomas Owens, who’s president of Duke University Hospital and senior vice-president of Duke University Health System, said in a phone interview with The N&O that the benefits and pricing on Centene’s Ambetter plans will be competitive and will offer a local provider network containing several thousand doctors.

Plans in the ACA marketplace, also known as Obamacare, are sold directly to individuals and include federal subsidies for households below certain income thresholds.  Most Americans, however, buy their health insurance through an employer or through a government program like Medicare, which insures people who are 65 and older, Medicaid, which insures low-income adults, their children and some people with disabilities, or Tricare for military personnel.

The 40,000 people who are affected by Thursday’s decision are now covered by Blue Cross’s Blue Local ACA plan and can use WakeMed and Duke Health doctors and facilities with lower in-network costs through the end of this year.  Blue Cross announced last week that it is eliminating Blue Local for 2019 and dropping WakeMed and Duke Health out of its network to keep down costs as of Jan. 1.

People have until Dec. 15 to decide whether to switch to Centene’s Ambetter plan so they can continue to see their current doctors or stay with Blue Cross and find other health care providers.

Centene is the largest ACA insurer in the country and it specializes in insuring lower-income people on government programs like Medicaid.  The company also plans to bid to administer North Carolina’s Medicaid program under a $6 billion-a-year program that will be awarded to multiple bidders next year.

Owens at Duke Health said the Ambetter option might not only appeal to people on Blue Local, but also to people currently on Blue Value, which will include UNC Health Alliance as its provider network.

“Our network will be broader and more comprehensive than the network UNC brings,” Owens said.  “Our goal for all of those lives on Blue Value in Wake and Durham counties to stay with us through Ambetter, and we’d be thrilled to have others choose us as well.”