Former Missouri Gov. Jay Dixon told residents of Asheville, N.C., to express any concerns regarding Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare's $1.5 billion acquisition of Mission Health sooner rather than later, according to the Citizen Times.
Mr. Nixon spoke to residents and officials from the Asheville-based health system during a two-hour listening session about the proposed deal Oct. 23. His remarks come just days before he is scheduled to meet with the North Carolina attorney general and his staff on whether the deal would be in the best interest of Asheville residents.
Mr. Nixon served four terms as Missouri's attorney general. During that time, HCA took over Midwest Health, which was headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., before moving across state lines to Kansas City, Kan.
"There's a great deal of discretion in the attorney general's office in a transaction of this sort, but there's not many tools. Basically, it's an up or down," Mr. Nixon said during the meeting. "You have to use that to work with folks.
Mission Health officials submitted the acquisition paperwork to the attorney general's office in September and expect to finalize the deal to transition the system's six hospitals to HCA by the end of the year.
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