Tuesday, NC Attorney General Josh Stein weighed in on community complaints about HCA Healthcare.
Citizens across Western North Carolina have voiced their concerns about how services at local hospitals now owned by HCA Healthcare have changed since the for-profit hospital system bought Mission Health System in February 2019.
In a press release, Stein urged Greg Lowe, President of the North Carolina Division of HCA Healthcare to respond to the issues that have been raised.
“The delivery of health care is truly a life or death issue,” says Attorney General Josh Stein in a press release. “That is why my office took so seriously our responsibility to protect western North Carolinians as we negotiated with HCA over its purchase of Mission. I am deeply concerned about what I’ve been hearing about HCA – and I want answers.”
Stein says HCA needs to address issues in 4 areas: (1) quality of care, (2) access to needed health care services, including Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) nurses, (3) charity care policy implementation, and (4) billing issues.
“I required that an independent monitor be part of this deal, and I am pleased that its public engagement provided an opportunity for these concerns to come to light,” says Stein in a press release. “Should HCA fail to comply with the commitments it has made, we will do whatever we can for the people of western North Carolina.”
Stein explains that beyond the public meetings with the independent monitor Gibbins Advisors, his office has also received about 30 complaints directly.
