Dogwood Health Trust is searching for a new independent monitor to oversee HCA Healthcare's compliance with its 2019 asset purchase agreement to acquire Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health.
Dogwood, a nonprofit established to receive the proceeds of the $1.5 billion sale, said that "a change in the scope of work" prompted it to search for a new independent monitor.
The news comes after North Carolina's attorney general sued Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA, alleging the health system cut emergency and cancer care at Mission Health and lapsed on its purchase agreement in doing so.
HCA made 15 post-closing commitments as part of the Mission Health purchase agreement, with one of them being the establishment of the role of the independent monitor, or IM. As the seller representative, Dogwood selects the IM, subject to consent by HCA and the North Carolina Attorney General.
The IM ensures HCA complies with its commitment to provide quality healthcare across Western North Carolina. It has four primary roles: Evaluate HCA's annual report, educate and engage the community, engage with the attorney general's office, and continuous compliance evaluation.
"The IM's role as advisor to Dogwood is critically important to our oversight of HCA's commitments under the APA," Dogwood CEO Susan Mims, MD, said in a Jan. 2 news release. "Dogwood relies on the IM's ability to evaluate all aspects of compliance with HCA's commitments including actively engaging with and listening to the community in order to lift up any issues of potential non-compliance."
Dogwood is accepting proposals through 5 p.m. Feb. 6th and will select a new IM by April 1.