ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Mission Hospital is again facing the potential designation of immediate jeopardy, which is considered the most serious designation for any healthcare facility.

State regulators are recommending that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) give Mission 23 days to fix patient safety problems or face losing thousands in federal patient care reimbursements.

“It’s enormously significant,” said State Senator Julie Mayfield. “This is the second time in two years there’s been a recommendation for an immediate jeopardy.”

Mayfield’s been advocating for years for HCA to sell Mission Hospital, but the for-profit hospital chain has refused.

STATE OFFICIALS RECOMMEND MISSION HOSPITAL BE PLACED UNDER IMMEDIATE JEOPARDY AGAIN

The latest regulation letter from state regulation officials was addressed to Mission CEO Greg Lowe. It states that Mission could lose critical federal reimbursement funds because of an “unsafe environment for patients.”

Lowe hasn’t agreed to talk about the issues raised by regulators, and the hospital didn’t respond to News 13’s request for an interview with Lowe on Monday, Oct. 20.

“I think a responsible leader would be the public face of this,” said Sen. Mayfield. But she added he’s been of no help in past discussions about hospital problems.

“I don’t pick up the phone and call Greg Lowe,” Mayfield said. “My interactions with him in the past have proven not to be very fruitful. Greg Lowe should absolutely own this, as the leader and director and manager of the hospital.”

‘Nurses know what’s going on’

“I personally have reported four deaths in the last three months,” Mission nurse Mark Klein said.

Klein said all four deaths were preventable. “Nurses know what’s going on. Patients die,” he said.

Klein said, before HCA. the hospital had 2,200 nurses. He claims that number is down by 700 with HCA’s staff cuts.

“HCA’s understaffing is the precipitating factor in all these deaths,” Klein said.

MISSION HOSPITAL TO HIRE 200 STAFF IN 100 DAYS AMID UNION PRESSURE, COMMUNITY CONCERNS

“The immediate jeopardies identified in February 2024,” said Karen Sanders a hospice nurse who worked for years at Mission. “Now we have two additional immediate jeopardies. It is very disturbing to find out patients are being left alone in rooms when they are supposed to be on telemetry, and there’s not enough staff to see if the patient responds or not.”

A letter from Lowe in September said Mission Hospital aimed to hire 200 employees in 100 days, including 100 registered nurses.

The letter

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) letter, dated Oct. 10 to Lowe, states multiple issues upon inspection and investigation. The descriptions included “patient misidentification,” failure to “assess a telemetry patient with emergent needs,” a failure “to ensure safe and appropriate transport and continuous pulse oximetry monitoring for a patient during transport.”

State regulators are recommending a 23-day termination window for Mission to bring standards up to required levels or face the federal funding cutoff. The CMS staff will make the decision after reviewing findings.

Mission provided the following statement on Friday, Oct. 17:

“Mission Health is disappointed with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) decision to recommend CMS place our hospital in Immediate Jeopardy. While we respect the surveyors’ role, the state regulators have not articulated what insufficiencies exist today, given the extensive corrective action plans we have implemented and provided to them. Because of that, we proactively shared our plans with CMS. We believe we have addressed the issues and welcome an expedited follow-up survey.

We remain confident in the ability of our team to provide compassionate, high-quality care and are committed to continuous improvement in patient safety and clinical excellence. We will continue to work cooperatively with DHHS and CMS to resolve this issue, while keeping our main focus on the community we serve.”