Mission Hospital 'immediate jeopardy' status

Описание: Within two years, Mission Hospital has received its third "immediate jeopardy" designation from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). So, what's different this time?

According to CMS, it is requiring HCA Healthcare to hire an independent consultant within 30 days to oversee the required safety changes.

In a memo to employees, which News 13 obtained, CEO Greg Lowe said Mission Hospital plans to bring in an independent consultant, “who is an expert in hospital quality, to provide guidance and oversight to our hospital leadership team.”

“It has to be a person or a firm that CMS approves of, and frankly, between the taxpayers paying for that and HCA paying for it, I want HCA to pay for it,” Mayfield said.

For over two years, State Senator Julie Mayfield has publicly criticized HCA Healthcare's Mission Hospital, demanding that administrators put patients first

CMS recently released a report documenting patient deaths, an apparent assault on a nurse by a patient, and a measles exposure, prompting the hospital's latest "immediate jeopardy" status.

Mayfield predicts CMS will never enforce the ultimate consequence and terminate the hospital's lucrative federal reimbursement contracts for patients.

“Mission is too big,” said Mayfield, referencing the community’s reliance on it for care. “It’s our only trauma center west of Charlotte. If you closed it for a day, it would be a disaster for the region.”

According to Mayfield, she realizes it gives HCA administrators a position of strength to challenge "immediate jeopardy" safety designations that can result in contract terminations. However, she feels there’s a new requirement in the latest report that will make HCA address reported systemic safety problems.

Mayfield feels the latest "immediate jeopardy" status is different.

“North Carolina DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) brought over 30 inspectors to Asheville and the hospital. They’ve never done that before. In fact, I’ve never talked to anybody in the healthcare world who has seen that level of engagement," Mayfield said.
The main lever CMS can pull is terminating millions in federal patient care reimbursements. While predicting it won’t ever happen, Mayfield said she continues in her role as watchdog over the community as her priority.

Mayfield said she has no problem criticizing HCA and administrators she feels don’t put patients first. She continues to speak out and is leading a news conference in Asheville on Monday, Feb. 9, about Mission at 10 a.m.

“They (HCA) have left me and this community no choice but to be aggressive, firm, and persistent advocates,” Mayfield said.

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