As many of you are aware, HCA Healthcare’s purchase of Mission Hospital has resulted in a significant decline in care for residents of Western North Carolina. As a physician who had worked at Mission Hospital for 33 years as a medical oncologist, it pains me that HCA has recently taken another major step in reducing the quality of health care available to our community in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene by quietly closing its LTACH unit.
LTACH stands for long-term acute care hospital. It has also been called Asheville Specialty Hospital . Most people do not know the significance of a long-term acute care hospital, and why would you? It’s one of those things you don’t know exists until you or a close friend or family member really needs it, but as a physician I am pained by what this loss means for our community.
LTACH serves as a specialty-care hospital designed for patients with serious medical problems that require intense, special treatment for an extended period of time, usually 20-30 days. Staff in these facilities specialize in treating patients who have more than one serious condition…