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Mission Health Promises $15 Million Each To 6 Regional Foundations

Courtesy of Mission Health
This map shows the area in which Mission Health provides care in Western North Carolina.

Mission Health says its sale to a for-profit company will come with a big payout for all six of its regional hospitals.  The foundations for each of those facilities would receive $15 million dollars each once the sale is completed.

Mission Health Board Chair Dr. John Ball says a contract with for-profit HCA Healthcare should be ready by the end of September, with the sale being completed by the end of the year. The funds will be distributed over the next 3 years. The first $5 million dollar check will come when the sale is finalized.

Ball says the foundations will use the money to support local organizations. Once Mission is sold to HCA, the local non-profit foundations will not be able to support the for-profit hosptial directly. This means that the local foundations will need to reorganize in order to support local healthcare groups instead.

 

“Our belief is and one of the reasons that Mission is giving its sale proceeds to these local foundations is to build their capability to change what their basic strategy is,” says Ball. “It’s our hope that they will be focused on social determinants of health and then be able to work with the Dogwood Health Trust to help the community.”

 

Social determinants are conditions outside of healthcare and genetics that can factor into a person's health such as enviroment and behavior. Mission's foundation Dogwood Health Trust, which will be created from 90 percent of the proceeds of the hospitals sale, will also focus on social determinants in the local communities.

 

Blue Ridge Regional Hospital Foundation, CarePartners Foundation in Asheville, Highlands-Cashiers Hospital Foundation, Mission Hospital McDowell Foundation and Transylvania Regional Hospital Foundation will all become Legacy Member Foundations as a part of this deal. Angel Medical Center Foundation in Franklin, will need to create a foundation in order to use the funds.

Ball says he expects the Dogwood Trust to bring tens of millions of dollars per year to Western NC but cannot confirm the exact amount since the agreement is not complete.