HCA Healthcare faces a new deadline of June 5 to resolve issues at Mission Hospital or risk losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding, according to a letter sent by federal authorities to hospital leadership Thursday.
The letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to Mission CEO Chad Patrick, obtained by BPR, states that a blueprint submitted by the hospital earlier this month to correct the errors – known as a “Plan of Correction” – has been accepted.
“The North Carolina State Survey Agency will conduct an unannounced revisit survey on or before June 5, 2024, to determine whether Memorial Mission Hospital and Asheville Surgery Center has achieved compliance with the Conditions of Participation,” the letter states.
But in a separate letter Thursday, CMS informed Patrick of several violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act, or EMTALA, at Mission Hospital. The violations were uncovered during a November 2023 visit to the hospital by state inspectors. Details of the violations were not immediately available; the CMS letter states that they are related to emergency room screening procedures.
“Consequently, unless Memorial Mission Hospital and Asheville Surgery Center has achieved substantial compliance within 90 days (June 5, 2024) of the date of this notice, the Medicare provider agreement between Memorial Mission Hospital and Asheville Surgery Center and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services may be terminated,” the letter states.
HCA Healthcare, which owns Mission Hospital, must submit a new Plan of Correction for the latest violations by March 24.
In a statement, Nancy Lindell, a spokeswoman for HCA, confirmed the hospital company had received the CMS letter.
"This subsequent 90-day standard notice was an expected part of this process and means that specific elements of our approved plan of correction will also be examined and re-surveyed in tandem with the revisit to ensure that this EMTALA finding has been addressed," Lindell said. "As we continue to state, we take these matters very seriously and have made significant process changes to improve our patient care experience."
The June deadline and notice of new violations are the latest in a long-running battle over conditions at Asheville’s Mission Hospital, which was a nonprofit until it was purchased by HCA in 2019.
Last month, CMS released a 384-page report detailing multiple patient safety issues, including treatment delays and understaffing, particularly in Mission’s emergency room. In some cases, the issues led to patient death.
As a result of the findings, state investigators concluded in December that conditions at the hospital posed “immediate jeopardy” to patient safety – the most serious warning a hospital can receive.
The designation was suspended in late February, after investigators made a revisit to the hospital. But current and former staff, as well as elected officials, continue to urge HCA to do more to address the issues in patient care.
In addition to being at risk of losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding, HCA is also facing several lawsuits, including one filed in 2022 by the City of Brevard and another filed late last year by state Attorney General Josh Stein. The litigation remains ongoing.
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