Asheville’s Mission Hospital says it is no longer in immediate jeopardy, the most serious sanction a hospital can face. The move comes after state inspectors visited the hospital to investigate patient safety complaints earlier this month.
In an email to staff, Mission CEO Greg Lowe said federal authorities told the hospital last week that they had removed the designation.
“We appreciate CMS providing confirmation on this matter and look forward to continuing to work with them as we move through the next phase of the process,” Lowe said in the email obtained by BPR News.
Lowe said Mission must still submit a plan for correction and go through another inspection by state surveyors in the coming months.
“Our teams already have action plans in place to address remaining items identified during the original survey,” Lowe said in the email.
A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services referred BPR to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS said it would follow up on an inquiry from BPR about the issue but did not respond by press time.
Mission Hospital has faced three immediate jeopardy designations since it was purchased by HCA Healthcare in 2019. The most recent one was over safety violations related to patient identification, patient transport and the equipment used to monitor patients’ vital signs.
In July and September, two patients died as a result of the violations, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported Monday.
Local elected officials and community members say the problems are due to chronic understaffing. They’ve called for HCA to sell Mission or bring in an outside administrator to temporarily run the hospital.
Mission is also one of four applicants competing for state approval to expand in Buncombe County. A public hearing on all four proposals is scheduled for December 16th at A-B Tech in Asheville.
