Monitor finds noncompliance issues at HCA Mission Hospital – Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News
Dogwood Health Trust, the compliance monitor overseeing Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s purchase of Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health, said HCA might be in noncompliance with its acquisition agreement.
In a July 29 certified letter, Dogwood said it had identified three instances of potential noncompliance as part of HCA Healthcare’s 2019 acquisition of Mission Health. Specifically, the monitor cited the following:
- Reductions in staff in oncology services and emergency and trauma services.
- The hospital’s immediate jeopardy status between Dec. 19, 2023, and June 11, 2024, could be noncompliant with an agreement to “remain ‘enrolled and in good standing’ in Medicare and Medicaid.”
- Failure to seek and receive approval for a policy change relating to Mission Health’s uninsured and charity care policy, particularly regarding liens.
Dogwood and a second monitor, Affiliated Monitors, who assumed Dogwood’s duties in April, sent the letter to North Carolina’s attorney general, who has 30 days to respond.
In 2023, then-Attorney General Josh Stein filed a lawsuit against HCA, alleging the discontinuation of certain services, including emergency and oncology. The state’s current attorney general, Jeff Jackson, has vowed to continue the litigation.
A spokesperson for Mission Health told Becker’s the organization is compliant with the asset purchase agreement and it remains committed to providing quality healthcare.
“As noted in the report, CMS accepted our corrective action plan more than a year ago and we were found to have zero deficiencies at the conclusion of another survey in June,” the spokesperson said. “The report mentions again our improvements to Mission Health’s charity care policy. Since joining HCA Healthcare, Mission Health has not engaged in litigation against patients over unpaid medical bills, including filing liens.”
HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest for-profit health system with 186 hospitals, purchased Mission Health for approximately $1.5 billion in 2019. Since then, the system has faced criticism from state officials, clinicians and community advocates.
Several hospitalists, oncologists, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, urologists and neurologists have left in waves, raising concerns around access and quality of care. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services conducted an investigation in May and later reported finding no care deficiencies at HCA Mission Hospital.