(The Center Square) – Funding for Medicare and Medicaid at a North Carolina hospital is in jeopardy, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says.
Mission Hospital officials in Asheville have vowed to comply and submit a corrective action plan. Immediate jeopardy is when a hospital “has placed the health and safety of recipients in its care at risk for serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment or death.”
HCA Healthcare North Carolina Division President Greg Lowe acknowledged “Mission Hospital’s comprehensive survey by the Department of Health and Human Services has resulted in an Immediate Jeopardy finding by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services” in a letter to staff on Friday.
The notice from federal authorities begins a 23-day countdown for Mission to craft a plan to fix the problems outlined by inspectors in a December letter to Mission CEO Chad Patrick. The letter documents nine care deficiencies over 19 months for a variety of issues, including Emergency Department staff failing to accept patients, delays for triage, assessments, monitoring, and orders for labs and telemetry.