HCA Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., has submitted a plan of correction to address deficiencies and remove its immediate jeopardy status, a CMS spokesperson confirmed to Becker's Feb 8.
CMS on Feb. 1 sent a letter to the hospital, notifying leadership that the facility is in immediate jeopardy and must take action to avert the loss of federal funding. CMS had set a Feb. 6 deadline for Mission Hospital to submit a plan of correction indicating how it will come back into compliance with regulations related to its governing body, emergency services, nursing services, patients' rights, quality assurance and laboratory services.
Submitting a correction plan initiates a multistep process to ensure the hospital has the opportunity to come into compliance, according to a CMS spokesperson. If the plan is accepted, inspectors with the North Carolina Department of Public Health will conduct another survey to evaluate whether immediate jeopardy conditions have been removed. In that case, the hospital will have 90 days to complete specific corrective actions and regain compliance with the regulations, according to CMS.
Late last year, the state health department conducted inspections at Mission Hospital on behalf of CMS and, in its initial findings, recommended the hospital be placed in immediate jeopardy. Surveyors noted nine deficiencies in their initial survey related to incidents that occurred between April 2022 and November 2023, which resulted in immediate jeopardy identifications on Dec. 1 and Dec. 9.
Details on what led to the immediate jeopardy identifications are limited, but a spokesperson with the state health department told the Citizen Times that a full report on findings from the December survey would be available by March 3 or after CMS receives an acceptable correction plan, whichever comes first. State officials have criticized the agencies for not sharing more information on the findings. Sen. Julie Mayfield said she is working to get access to the corrective plan to ensure it is sustainable.
"The bottom line is they have to increase staffing, and they have to increase the resources that are available to staff," Ms. Mayfield said during a Feb. 6 news conference, according to the Carolina Public Press. "That's medical equipment, supplies, people — it's everything you need to serve patients and run a hospital."
Officials at Mission Hospital previously said they had started taking steps to address issues when they received the initial findings from the health department in January, including bringing in additional staff to work in the ED.
"There are no excuses for our patients receiving anything other than exceptional care, and Mission Health has already taken action based on the preliminary findings shared last month," Nancy Lindell, a spokesperson for the hospital previously told Becker's, adding, "We are pleased to hear from our EMS partners and patients that those actions are yielding positive results, including decreased wait times for care."
Becker's has reached out to Mission Hospital regarding details on its plan of correction and will update the report if more information becomes available.