ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A grassroots effort to effect change in HCA Healthcare hospitals in Western North Carolina has been building for months. On Wednesday, Reclaim Healthcare WNC officially launched with a website, a Facebook page and a plan to hold HCA accountable and bring about the sale of Mission Health.
“We know it’s not going to be a quick fight, and it’s not going to be an easy fight,” said Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof, who is part of the group. “But it’s what we have to do.”
Copelof said the coalition, which started about eight months ago, was the brainchild of state Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe.
Efforts to reach Mayfield on Thursday were unsuccessful.
“The coalition started informally, but over time, it’s gotten much more organized and much more serious,” Copelof said, noting physicians, nurses, elected officials and community leaders were part of the effort.
The strategy, she said, is to work with health officials and the independent monitor to hold HCA accountable.
“Make sure people know how to report them,” Copelof said of HCA facilities.
Affiliated Monitors Inc. has been tasked with determining whether HCA Healthcare is complying with its Mission Health System purchase agreement. HCA acquired Mission Health, for about $1.5 billion in 2019.
STATE FINDS MISSION HOSPITAL IN COMPLIANCE AFTER MONTHS OF SCRUTINY
Last month, a state survey team recommended Mission Hospital be found in compliance with federal regulations in five categories of services that had put the facility in jeopardy of losing its Medicare provider agreements.
“People are concerned about the quality of health care in Western North Carolina. It is very frustrating,” Copelof said of efforts to hold HCA accountable for what has been described as a decline in the quality of care at Mission facilities since the sale. “What we really need is systemic changes.”
MONITORS PRESSURED TO HOLD MISSION ACCOUNTABLE
According to its website, the coalition aims to:
- Replace Healthcare Corporation of America (HCA) with a nonprofit hospital system that will better meet the needs of WNC
- Hold HCA accountable for its harmful culture and practices
- Restore best-in-class healthcare throughout the Mission system
“We’re not discouraged. We’re going to keep fighting,” Copelof said.
HCA officials forwarded a factsheet of Mission Health statistics about patient care. See it below.