Two hospital systems are appealing a recent decision by the state Department of Health and Human Services to allow Mission Hospital and Novant Health to expand in Buncombe County.
The move by AdventHealth and UNC Health West Medical Center is the latest twist in the battle over healthcare in the county. HCA Healthcare’s Mission Hospital has long been the dominant player in Buncombe but has faced repeated sanctions from federal authorities over patient safety and alleged understaffing.
All four hospital systems had been competing for state approval to add as many as 129 beds to their new or existing facilities serving residents of Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey counties. Last month, state health authorities granted Mission approval to add 95 acute-care beds to its Asheville hospital. They also gave Novant the green light to build a new, 34-bed hospital in Arden.
Judge has 270 days to issue decision
On Wednesday, UNC Health West Medical Center and AdventHealth confirmed that they have appealed the decision. The appeals will be heard by an administrative law judge, who has 270 days to issue a decision.
“We are proud of our UNC Health West proposal to build a 129-bed hospital and provide a safe, high-quality alternative for the people of western North Carolina,” UNC Health spokesperson Alan Wolf said in a statement Wednesday. “We believe it’s the best approach to serve the future healthcare needs of that region.”
UNC Health and UNC Health Pardee had jointly applied as UNC Health West Medical Center.
AdventHealth spokesperson Victoria Dunkle said the hospital system decided to appeal “to ensure the region’s health care needs are fully considered.”
“Based on the recent health care access and quality concerns in our region, we do not believe the recent decision regarding the 129-bed application is in the best interest of our community and will have profound impacts,” Dunkle said in a statement.
She added that “additional inpatient capacity remains critical” to AdventHealth’s new hospital in Weaverville. The facility is currently slated to have at least 67 beds; that number could increase to 93 depending on whether an appeal by Mission is successful. Gov. Josh Stein attended the facility’s groundbreaking last month.
Mission Hospital did not comment directly on the appeals but said it looks forward to “alleviating bed capacity constraints so that patients can get the high-quality, advanced care services only Mission can provide.”
“We are pleased that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Service Regulation approved Mission Hospital to add 95 inpatient beds to its Asheville campus, affirming the essential and critical care we continue to provide to western North Carolina,” Mission Health System spokesperson Nancy Lindell said in a statement.
Mission was recently named the only Level I Trauma Center in western North Carolina.
A Novant Health spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Critics say Mission decision is ‘incomprehensible’
Mission Hospital was a nonprofit until 2019, when it was purchased by Nashville-based HCA Healthcare for $1.5 billion. Since then, it has seen an exodus of staff as well as multiple “immediate jeopardy” designations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – the most serious sanction a hospital can face.
Some local elected officials and current and former Mission staff members have formed a coalition, Reclaim Healthcare WNC, calling on HCA to sell Mission. The group has also supported efforts by other hospital systems to increase their presence in Buncombe County, arguing that greater competition is needed in the healthcare marketplace.
Reclaim Healthcare WNC spokesperson Aaron Sarver said in an email to supporters Tuesday that he and other members of the group assumed Mission “had zero chance of being awarded more beds” in light of the sanctions.
“How a hospital can have received four citations for Immediate Jeopardy, and still be under an enforcement action, and be awarded beds is incomprehensible,” Sarver said in the email. “It cannot be allowed to happen again.”
